In 1714, the British government held a contest. They offered a large cash prize to anyone who could solve the vexing "longitude problem" - how to determine a ship's east/west position on the open ocean - since none of their naval experts had been able to do so. Lots of people gave it a try. One of them, a self-educated carpenter named John Harrison, invented the marine chronometer - a rugged and highly precise clock - that did the trick. For the first time, sailors could accurately determine their location at sea. A centuries-old problem was solved. And, arguably, crowdsourcing was born...
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