The English Board of Longitude and the French Bureau des longitudes: Making a general comparison
Résumé
The British Board of Longitude and the French Bureau des Longitudes were created in 1714 and 1795 respectively, to solve the problem of the computation of the difference of longitude at sea. However, the British institution ceased to exist in 1828, while the French institution still exists. What can we say about these two institutions, their actors, their way of working and, in general, their different evolution? In this talk, I present my work in progress on the development of the British and the French institutions. I consider in particular some specific projects that engaged the two institutions, such as the project on pendulums, so as to compare one approach with the other