Computer Science Department Talk: Where Are We? From Burning Fires To GPS: Navigation Myths, Technology, and Science
Friday Sept 16, 3:00-4:00pm, Farmer Hall, room 204
Professor Dean, who works with the Dahlgren Heritage Museum, will be treating us to a lecture on the history of GPS, including contributions from NSWC legend, Gladys West. Join us to enjoy snacks, social time with other students, and to learn a bit of local computer science history.
Today, the development of artificial satellites has made possible the transmission of more-precise, line-of-sight radio-navigation signals allowing anyone with a Global Positioning System (GPS) to find out where they are on the globe to within feet. The answer to the simple question of “Where Are We?” is complex and was not as easily solved as the world’s Navies began to navigate the world’s oceans.
In 1714, after the destruction near the Scilly Islands of Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovell’s fleet as it returned home from victorious skirmishes with the French, the English Parliament offered a large cash award to anyone who could develop a successful and repeatable method of determining longitude. The race was on.
Come take a journey to explore the history of navigators answering this question using the various technologies of the time from the 1700s to today’s GPS and discover some of the local “hidden figures” who helped make GPS successful.
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