  In the 17th Century, the Dutch Republic played an important role in the
scientific revolution. Much of the correspondence among contemporary scientists
and their associates is now digitally available through the ePistolarium
webtool, allowing current scientists and historians unfettered access to
transcriptions of some 20,000 letters from the Dutch Golden Age. This wealth of
information offers unprecedented insights in the involvement of 17th Century
thinkers in the scientific issues of the day, including descriptions of their
efforts in developing methods to accurately determine longitude at sea.
Unsurprisingly, the body of correspondence referring to this latter aspect is
largely dominated by letters involving Christiaan Huygens. However, in addition
to the scientific achievements reported on, we also get an unparalleled and
fascinating view of the personalities involved.
