The Life of Benjamin Banneker

Résumé du livre

A free Negro tobacco planter in Baltimore County, Benhamin Banneker taught himself mathematics and astronomy late in life. He produced calculations for a series of almanacs published in the late eighteenth century and participated in the survey of the Federal Territory (now the District of Columbia.) As the author has expressed it, a lesson to be derived from Banneker's life is " ... that a thirst for knowledge is not limited to youth, and that the process of learning recognizes no barrier of color, race, or creed." Based on long-lost manuscripts and personal papers, this authoritative biography places Banneker in his rightful and honored place among the early American mathematical practitioners who applied the sciences in the developing new republic. The Life of Benjamin Banneker makes an important contribution to three separate fields of scholarship - history of science, black studies, and American history. It will appeal to general readers and students and scholars interested in these fields of study. -- from dust jacket.