Occasionally, there were prizes, such as that given to John Harrison in the 18th century, for solving the so-called longitude problem, but prizes were only given after the fact, when they were given at all.
Ibland så fanns det priser, så som det som gavs till John Harrison på 1700-talet för att han löste det så kallade longitudproblemet, men priser gavs bara efteråt, om de gavs alls.