David rittenhouse biography

Bedini writes in [ 2 ] :- He was fascinated with mathematics from his early years but, with little opportunity for schooling, was largely self-taught from books on elementary arithmetic and geometry and a box of tools inherited from an uncle, David Williams.

David rittenhouse biography: He became an astronomer,

He also read more advanced works, in particular an English translation of Newton 's Principia. Rufus, in [ 4 ]sees Rittenhouse as a mathematical disciple of Newton. Rittenhouse began to construct clocks, making a wooden one when he was seventeen, then a brass one a little later. By he had opened a shop on a road that ran through his father's farm where he sold clocks, mathematical instruments and mechanical models of the solar system.

Of course Rittenhouse lived through a difficult period with much of the fighting during the French and Indian War from to taking place in Pennsylvania. Despite this he began to david rittenhouse biography astronomical instruments in He married Eleanor Coulston in ; they had two children. Rittenhouse was elected to the American Philosophical Society in and, based on calculations which he made, the Society made plans to observe the transit of Venus which was calculated to take place in The plans consisted of setting up observatories on three sites from which observations would be made.

Rittenhouse built one of these observatories at his home as well as constructing most of the astronomical instruments to be used in it. It is believed that he made the first telescope in the United States as one of these instruments [ 1 ] :- During this transit [ Rittenhouse ] observed that Venus has an atmosphere. His findings were similar to those of the Russian scientist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, who had identified Venus's atmosphere during a transit in Though both had written about their observations, neither report was published or publicised for more than a century.

His scientific thinking and experimentation earned Rittenhouse considerable intellectual prestige in America and in Europe. Rittenhouse maintained detailed records of his observations and published a number of important works on astronomy, including a paper putting forth his solution for locating the place of a planet in its orbit. He also sought to solve mathematical problems, publishing his first mathematical paper inan effort to determine the period of a pendulum.

He also experimented with magnetism and electricity. Rittenhouse was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society inserving over the years as curator, librarian, secretary, vice president, and from toits president. His skill with instruments, particularly clocks, led him to construct two orreries scale models of the solar system for Rutgers University in New Jersey.

In return for the gift, the college gave him a scholarship to attend the college enabling him to obtain a degree in philosophy. One of the orreries is currently in the library of the University of Pennsylvania and the other is at Peyton Hall of Princeton University. At the age of 28, he published his first mathematical paper; this is one of many papers published throughout his life.

Rittenhouse was one of the first to build a telescope in the United States.

David rittenhouse biography: David Rittenhouse (April 8,

His telescope, which utilized natural spider silk to form the reticle, was used to observe and record part of the transit of Venus across the sun on June 3,as well as the planet's atmosphere. In Rittenhouse became the first American to sight Uranus. In Rittenhouse, surveyor Andrew Ellicott and their crew completed the unfinished survey of the Mason Dixon line to the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, 5 degrees of longitude from the Delaware River.

In Rittenhouse made perhaps the first diffraction grating using 50 hairs between two finely-threaded screws, with an approximate spacing of about lines per inch. This was roughly the same technique that Joseph von Fraunhofer used in for his wire diffraction grating. Astronomers who had been studying the planet Venus chose Rittenhouse to study the transit path of Venus in and its atmosphere.

Rittenhouse was the perfect person to study the mysterious planet, as he had a personal observatory on his family farm. Rittenhouse served on the American Astronomical Society, and this was another factor in being chosen to study Venus. Throughout his life he had the honour to serve in many different clubs and committees. In he was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society.

David rittenhouse biography: David Rittenhouse was an

He served as librarian, secretary, and after Benjamin Franklin's death, he became Vice president. Another one of his interests was the Royal Society of London of which he was a member. It was very rare for an American to be a member of this exclusive British society. In Rittenhouse built a new Georgian-style house on the corner of 4th and Arch streets in Philadelphia, next to an octagonal observatory he had already built.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that he would rather attend one of these meetings "than spend a whole week in Paris. David Rittenhouse had two wives. References [ edit ]. Retrieved January 6, December Professional Surveyor Magazine. ISSN LCCN OCLC Archived from the original on February 22, Retrieved February 22, — via Flatdog Media, Inc. Around the age of 17 he constructed a clock with wooden gears.

His father, recognizing his son's potential, helped David build a collection of tools necessary for clock making. After construction was completed on a small workshop at the family's Norriton farm, David began making and selling clocks. Oxford University Press. August Retrieved January 20, Americanized form of German Rittinghaus : habitational david rittenhouse biography from a farm near Altena, Westphalia.

He was born in the Rhineland, Prussia Germany and worked as a papermaker in Amsterdam, emigrating to PA in and establishing the first paper mill in America. His great-grandson David Rittenhouse —96 of Philadelphia was an astronomer and the first director of the United States Mint. Philadelphia: Edward Parker. Retrieved February 23, — via Google Books.

October LCCN sf Archived from the original PDF on February 22, Retrieved February 22, David Rittenhouse was born in and died in He is said to have made his first clock at the age of 17 This was a wooden clock and the records show that he and his brother Benjamin made brass clocks in See Franklin's will on WikiSource. Archived from the original on January 23, Retrieved February 28, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Retrieved July 28, Pennsylvania Gazette. December 23, Revolutionary America, — ISBN A commentary on an exhibition held in the Princeton University Library. Howard Crosby Rice. Princeton University Library,