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Williams , Zachariah [Zachary] , [1668]-1755 , experimental philosopher
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Born 1668 or 1673; educated in medicine, and served as a medical practitioner in south Wales; developed a method for ascertaining longitude using a theoretically derived table of the earth's magnetic variation (declination), in which the angle between geographic north and the direction indicated by a compass needle was calculated for different points of the globe; Williams also invented a device for desalinating sea water to make it drinkable; died, 1755.