Science and the State in the Eighteenth century Britain : Institutional characters of the Board of Longitude

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate institutional characters of the Board of Longitude for the purpose of examining the relationship between science and polity in the 18th century Britain. In 1714, British parliament established the Longitude Act and appointed Commissioners of the Board who were experts familiar with navigation, astronomy, and geography. Their main role was improving navigational science, especially achieving the practical solution for finding the longitude at sea. The Board as a scientific institution had close relations to two public bodies: the Parliament and Royal Navy. The Parliament financed the Board and rarely intervened into or controlled their activities. Nevertheless, the determinations which parliament made were obviously priority to the Board's, accordingly only through the parliamentary act, its reorganization could be carried out. Several scientific activities of the Board were operated for the service of the Royal Navy : introducing newly invented methods for finding the longitude and navigational instruments, transferring geographical knowledge, and cooperating actively for the voyages of discovery to the Pacific ocean and Arctic. It is well known that until second half of the 19th century, British government seldom patronized scientific activities and organizations. The example of the Board presents that from second half of the 18th century on, however, the state had put huge public money into scientific projects related to navigation, commerce, and exploration.