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Monday, Humid days

#1

Monday, Humid days

Thanks to Dale for covering for me on Monday. Monday trivia question. I�m looking for a name. A maker of wooden and metal scientific instruments (some with an accuracy for 10,000 years). Clocks too. American. He was known to Washington who trusted him. Franklin who went to church with him. And Jefferson thought enough of him that American standards for weights and measures were begun with his calculations. This person had no formal training and, as the story goes, had only three books and a box of a dead uncle�s joiners tools to teach himself. Yet he took on the most technical of challenges and did them better than most everyone else--worldwide. Before it was over he was accepted into the most prestigeous of scientific circles internationally. He served in the American revolution as a supervisor in the casting of cannon, ammunition, gun parts, and as a site selector of buildings, and installations for best effect. In an era where you couldn�t see twenty yards in front of you owing to forests he did borders and boundries so accurately that today his calculations are confirmed, and when present, accepted. Who was this person?

Re: Monday, Humid days

#2

Re: Monday, Humid days

He didn't have a French name for a baby did he?

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#3

No Enfant or BeBe

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#4

Re: Monday, Humid days

John "Longitude" Harrison?

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#5

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I was first thinking of the astronomer/surveyor Charles Mason, but then I see that he based some of his work on the measurements of David Rittenhouse.

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#6

Re: Monday, Humid days

No long answer today. Bill gets the gold star. The name is David Rittenhouse--a very adaptable fellow. Rittenhouse square (renamed southwest quarter of Philadelphia proper) is named after him, as is a moon crater. Benjamin Franklin found in him a kindred spirit, and the Philadelphian was frequently a visitor at the Rittenhouse family's Norriton farmhouse. On Sunday the two friends often went to the old Norriton Presbyterian Church, which had been built on the corner of the Rittenhouse farm�. This church, which probably dates from 1698, is still standing in good repair.

He improved Franklin�s stove by adding a stovepipe for smoke removal and did many other (more difficult) things, some of which follow.

Bio: http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/people/rittenhouse_david.html and

http://www-hhistory.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Rittenhouse. will provide starts.

His Orrery is pictured at http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/pennhistory/orrery/orrery.html and a picture example of a discovered and restored surveying instrument is:

http://www.colonialinstruments.com/im/pdf/DRitt_theo.pdf

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