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Person

John Harrison

A portrait of John Harrison, an English clockmaker from the 18th century, wearing a black coat with a white ruffled cravat, set against a dark background with a clock visible behind him.

English clockmaker (1693–1776), born in Yorkshire and raised in Lincolnshire, who taught himself horology while working as a village carpenter. Over forty-three years he built five marine timekeepers — H1 through H4 and the pocket-watch-sized H5 — that solved the problem of carrying accurate time to sea. He also invented the bimetallic strip and the caged roller bearing in the process.

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