|
|
|
|
David Rittenhouse
|
| |
|
| |
David Rittenhouse (April 8, 1732 June 26, 1796) was a renowned American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the first director of the United States Mint.
Biography
Rittenhouse was born near Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a small village called RittenhouseTown, located along a stream called Paper Mill Run, the stream itself a tiny tributary of the Wissahickon Creek. He was self-taught and from a young age showed great ability in science and mathematics.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'David Rittenhouse' Start a new discussion about 'David Rittenhouse' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
David Rittenhouse (April 8, 1732 June 26, 1796) was a renowned American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the first director of the United States Mint.
Biography
Rittenhouse was born near Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a small village called RittenhouseTown, located along a stream called Paper Mill Run, the stream itself a tiny tributary of the Wissahickon Creek. He was self-taught and from a young age showed great ability in science and mathematics. At nineteen years old, he started a scientific instrument shop at his father's farm in West Norriton Township, Pennsylvania. His skill with instruments, particularly clocks, led him to construct two orreries, one of which is currently in the library of the University of Pennsylvania and the other is at Peyton Hall of Princeton University. Rittenhouse was one of the first to build a telescope used in the United States.
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 1769-06-03, as well as the planet's atmosphere.
In 1784, David Rittenhouse and surveyor Andrew Ellicott and their crew completed the unfinished survey of the Mason Dixon line to the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, five degrees of longitude from the Delaware River.
In 1785, Rittenhouse made perhaps the first diffraction grating using 50 hairs between two finely threaded screws, with an approximate spacing of about 100 lines per inch. This was roughly the same technique that Joseph von Fraunhofer used in 1821 for his wire diffraction grating.
In 1813, Rittenhouse's nephew (and American Philosophical Society member) William Barton published a biography, Memoirs of the life of David Rittenhouse. Former President of the United States Thomas Jefferson ordered six copies directly from the author.
Young Life
At a young age Rittenhouse showed a high level of intelligence by creating a working scale model of his grandfather's paper mill. His uncle was a carpenter in Philadelphia, who died at a young age. When he passed away, he left young Rittenhouse a set of tools and instructional books. It was with these tools that Rittenhouse became an inventor and carved out a career and would otherwise have been a name lost to history. Sparked by the making of his first clock as a young boy, he later impacted the United States in many ways, from creating the first observatory in the country to founding the United States Mint.
Clubs and Societies
After Galileo saw the first sign of Earth's neighbor, Venus, in 1610, astronomers who had
been studying the planet, chose Rittenhouse as the person to study the transit path of Venus and its
atmosphere. Rittenhouse was the perfect person to study the mysterious planet, as he had a personal
observatory on his family farm. "His telescope, which he made himself, utilized grating intervals and spider threads on the focus of the telescope." His telescope is very similar to some modern day telescopes. 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, committees, and much more. One example is the American Philological Society, he began as a librarian, became secretary, and after Benjamin Franklin's death, he became Vice President. Another one of his interests was the Royal Society of London; this was very rare to see a foreign member of this exclusive society. All of the societies that he served in did partially affect his marriage. He had been friendly with his first since childhood. They had two children, but she died due to complication during the birth of their second child. He remarried soon after, but his involvement in his work caused him to neglect this marriage.
First Director of the United States Mint
David Rittenhouse was treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1777-1789 and with these skills and
the help of George Washington, he became the first director of the United States Mint. George Washington chose him not so much for his previous experience as Treasurer of Pennsylvania, but rather because of a pair of spectacles that Rittenhouse made for Washington. On April 2, 1792 the United States Mint opened its doors, but would not produce coins for almost four months. Rittenhouse believed that the design of the coin made the coin a piece of artwork. The first coins where made from flatware that was provided by Washington himself on the morning of July 30, 1792. The coins where hand-struck by Rittenhouse, to test the new equipment and were given to Washington as a token of appreciation for his contributions to making the United States Mint a reality. The coin design had not been approved by Congress. Coin production on a large scale did not begin until 1793. Rittenhouse resigned from the Mint on June 30, 1795, due to poor health. In 1871, the congress approved a commemorative coin in his honor.
Notable contributions to the United States
David Rittenhouse made many breakthroughs during his life, which were great contributions
to the United States. During the first part of his career, he was a surveyor for Great Britain, but later
served for the Pennsylvania government. Rittenhouse worked with some prominent figures during
his career, such as William Penn and Lord Baltimore. As a surveyor for Great Britain, his partners
where Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who were the creators of the boundaries for Pennsylvania
and Maryland. When his life as a surveyor ended, he resumed his scientific interests. When
he was thirteen years of age, he had mastered Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion and Gravity. As
a young boy he loved to build scale models, such as a working waterwheel and a paper mill. Rittenhouse never went to elementary school and was completely
self-educated from family books. With his love of tools and his amazing ability to create things he
crafted two orreries 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. At the age of
twenty-eight, he published his first mathematical paper, one of many papers published throughout his life.
Notable events
Other notable events in Rittenhouse's life include:
Rittenhouse Square
In 1825, one of William Penn's original squares in Philadelphia, called 'Southwest Square' (being in the southwest quadrant of the original city plan) was renamed Rittenhouse Square in David Rittenhouse's honor. Further to the west on Walnut Street, University of Pennsylvania houses its Physics and Mathematics departments in the David Rittenhouse Laboratory.
Transit of Venus
His great excitement at observing the infrequently-occurring transit of Venus (for which he had prepared for a year) resulted in his fainting during the observation. In addition to the work involved in the preparations, Rittenhouse had also been ill the week before the transit. Lying on his back beneath the telescope, trained at the afternoon sun, he regained consciousness after a few minutes and continued his observations. His account of the transit, published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, does not mention his fainting, though it is otherwise meticulous in its record.
External links
|
| |
|
|
