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Benjamin Peirce ( purse), April 4, 1809 – October 6, 1880) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 mathematician
Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
 who taught at Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 for forty years. He made contributions to celestial mechanics
Celestial mechanics

Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motion s of celestial objects. The field applies principles of physics, historically classical mechanics, to astronomical objects such as stars and planets to produce ephemeris data....
, number theory
Number theory

Number theory is the branch of pure mathematics concerned with the properties of numbers in general, and integers in particular, as well as the wider classes of problems that arise from their study....
, algebra
Algebra

Algebra is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of structure , relation , and quantity. Together with geometry, mathematical analysis, combinatorics, and number theory, algebra is one of the main branches of mathematics....
, and the philosophy of mathematics
Philosophy of mathematics

The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics....
.

After graduating from Harvard, he remained as a tutor
Tutor

In British, Australian, New Zealand, Italian, and some Canadian university, a tutor is often but not always a postgraduate student or a lecturer assigned to conduct a seminar for undergraduate students, often known as a tutorial....
 (1829), and was subsequently appointed professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 of mathematics in 1831. He added astronomy
Astronomy

Astronomy is the science of Astronomical object and Phenomenon that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere . It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the physical cosmology....
 to his portfolio in 1842, and remained as Harvard professor until his death. In addition, he was instrumental in the development of Harvard's science curriculum
Curriculum

In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of wiktionary:deed and experiences through which children grow and mature in becoming adults....
, served as the college librarian
Librarian

A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs....
, and was director of the U.S.






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Benjamin Peirce ( purse), April 4, 1809 – October 6, 1880) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 mathematician
Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
 who taught at Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 for forty years. He made contributions to celestial mechanics
Celestial mechanics

Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motion s of celestial objects. The field applies principles of physics, historically classical mechanics, to astronomical objects such as stars and planets to produce ephemeris data....
, number theory
Number theory

Number theory is the branch of pure mathematics concerned with the properties of numbers in general, and integers in particular, as well as the wider classes of problems that arise from their study....
, algebra
Algebra

Algebra is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of structure , relation , and quantity. Together with geometry, mathematical analysis, combinatorics, and number theory, algebra is one of the main branches of mathematics....
, and the philosophy of mathematics
Philosophy of mathematics

The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics....
.

After graduating from Harvard, he remained as a tutor
Tutor

In British, Australian, New Zealand, Italian, and some Canadian university, a tutor is often but not always a postgraduate student or a lecturer assigned to conduct a seminar for undergraduate students, often known as a tutorial....
 (1829), and was subsequently appointed professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 of mathematics in 1831. He added astronomy
Astronomy

Astronomy is the science of Astronomical object and Phenomenon that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere . It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the physical cosmology....
 to his portfolio in 1842, and remained as Harvard professor until his death. In addition, he was instrumental in the development of Harvard's science curriculum
Curriculum

In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of wiktionary:deed and experiences through which children grow and mature in becoming adults....
, served as the college librarian
Librarian

A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs....
, and was director of the U.S. Coast Survey from 1867 from 1874.

In number theory, he proved there is no odd perfect number
Perfect number

In mathematics, a perfect number is defined as a Negative and non-negative numbers which is the sum of its proper positive divisors, that is, the sum of the positive divisors excluding the number itself....
 with fewer than four prime
Prime number

In mathematics, a prime number is a natural number which has exactly two distinct natural number divisors: 1 and itself. An infinitude of prime numbers exists, as demonstrated by Euclid around 300 BC....
 factors.

In algebra, he was notable for the study of associative algebra
Associative algebra

In mathematics, an associative algebra is a vector space which also allows the multiplication of vectors in a distributivity and associativity manner....
s. He first introduced the terms idempotent and nilpotent
Nilpotent

In mathematics, an element x of a ring R is called nilpotent if there exists some positive integer n such that xn = 0....
 in 1870 to describe elements of these algebras, and he also introduced the Peirce decomposition.

In the philosophy of mathematics, he became known for the statement that "Mathematics is the science that draws necessary conclusions", and believed, along with George Boole
George Boole

George Boole was anEngland mathematician and philosopher.As the inventor of Boolean Logic, which is the basis of modern digital computer logic, Boole is regarded in hindsight as one of the founders of the field of computer science....
, that mathematics could be used to analyze logic
Logic

Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and inference. Logic is a branch of philosophy, a part of the classical Trivium . The word derives from Greek language ?????? , fem....
. This was in opposition to the program of Gottlob Frege
Gottlob Frege

Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a Germany mathematics who became a logician and philosophy. He helped found both modern mathematical logic and analytic philosophy....
 and Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, Order of Merit , Fellow of the Royal Society , was a British people philosopher, mathematical logic, mathematician, historian, advocate for social reform, and pacifism....
 to base mathematics on logic.

He was an expert witness
Expert witness

An expert witness or professional witness is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially rely upon the witness's specialized opinion about an evidence or fact issue within the scope...
 in the Howland will forgery trial
Howland will forgery trial

The Howland will forgery trial was a United States court case in 1868 to decide Henrietta Howland Robinson's contest of the Will of Sylvia Ann Howland....
. His analysis of the signature in question showed that it resembled another particular handwriting example so closely that the chances of such a match were statistically extremely remote.

As a person he was devoutly Christian, seeing "mathematics as study of God's work by God's creatures."

He married Sarah Hunt Mills, the daughter of U.S. Senator Elijah Hunt Mills. They produced three sons and a daughter: Charles Peirce
Charles Peirce

Charles Sanders Peirce was an American logician, mathematics, Philosophy, and science, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Peirce was educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for 30 years....
 a famous logician, James Mill who also taught mathematics at Harvard, and H.H.D who worked for Herter Brothers
Herter Brothers

The firm of Herter Brothers, New York City, , founded by Gustave and Christian Herter, begun as an upholstery warehouse, became one of the first firms of furniture makers and interior decorators in the United States after the American Civil War....
.

Eponyms

The lunar crater
Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with larger body....
 Peirce
Peirce (crater)

Peirce is a small moon Impact crater that lies in the western part of Mare Crisium. That dark, circular lunar mare is located in the east-northeasterly part of the Moon's near side....
 is named for Peirce.

Works


  • Physical and Celestial Mathematics, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company
    Little, Brown and Company

    Little, Brown and Company is a Publishing established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown . Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Livre....
    , 1855)
  • An Elementary Treatise on Plane and Spherical Trigonometry (1861)
  • Linear Associative Algebra (1880)


External links


  • Grattan-Guinness, Ivor
    Ivor Grattan-Guinness

    Ivor Grattan-Guinness is a historian of mathematics and logic.He gained his Bachelor degree as a Mathematics Scholar at Wadham College, Oxford, got an M.Sc in Mathematical Logic and the Philosophy of Science at the London School of Economics in 1966....
    , and Walsh, Alison (2005), "Benjamin Peirce", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a Open access online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. The SEP was initially developed with U.S....
    , Edward N. Zalta
    Edward N. Zalta

    Edward N. Zalta, born in 1952, is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Information. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst....
     (ed.), .
  • O'Connor, John J., and Robertson, Edmund F. (2005), "Benjamin Peirce", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
    MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

    The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is an award-winning website maintained by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson and hosted by the University of St Andrews in Scotland....
    , .
  • JSTOR
    JSTOR

    JSTOR is a United States-based Internet system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides full-text searches of Digitizing back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society....
    .
  • Peirce, Benjamin. , Van Nostrand, New York, 1882.