Abstract
New evidence suggests that David Rittenhouse (1732–1796) may have been a more mathematically sophisticated scientist than has previously been thought. Based on his correspondence with Jefferson, some of the scratch work in his diary, and a new examination of some of the mathematical literature known to have passed through his hands as Librarian of the American Philosophical Society (APS), Rittenhouse’s mathematical papers appear in a different light.
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Notes
- 1.
Hindle (1980) The Scientific Writings of David Rittenhouse, Arno Press, New York, New York.
- 2.
Rittenhouse (1785) “To Thomas Jefferson from David Rittenhouse, 28 September 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-08-02-0444. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 8, 25 February–31 October 1785, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953, pp. 565–566]
- 3.
Rittenhouse (1786) “To Thomas Jefferson from David Rittenhouse, 26 June 1786,” Ibid. vol. 10, p. 54.
- 4.
On more than one occasion, Rittenhouse would be favored for positions requiring mathematical expertise. Patterson was either deemed unacceptable or he was only asked after Rittenhouse had declined or was no longer available. Cases in point include being asked to take the position of professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, surveying and establishing the contested boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia, answering technical questions about the physics and mathematics of pendula, and directing the US Mint.
- 5.
W.C. Rufus, “David Rittenhouse as Mathematical Disciple of Newton,” Scripta Mathematica, 1941, v. 7 pp. 229.
- 6.
Hindle (1964) David Rittenhouse. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, p. 329.
- 7.
Homann (1987) David Rittenhouse: Logarithms and Leisure. Mathematics Magazine v. 60, No. 1 pp. 15-20.
- 8.
David Zitarelli, “David Rittenhouse: Modern Mathematician,” Notices of the AMS, p. 12.
- 9.
Rufus (1941).
- 10.
David Zitarelli, “David Rittenhouse: Modern Mathematician,” Notices of the AMS, p. 14.
- 11.
Hindle, The Pursuit of Science in Revolutionary America 1735-1789, Norton, New York (1974) p. 329.
- 12.
Whitehurst (1787) An Attempt Towards Obtaining Invariable Measures of Length, Capacity, and Weight from the Mensuration of Time. William Bent, Paternoster Row, London.
- 13.
Rittenhouse (1790) “To Thomas Jefferson from David Rittenhouse, 25 June 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-16-02-0333. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 16, 30 November 1789–25 June 1790, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961, pp. 567 - 570.]
- 14.
Rittenhouse (1790) “To Thomas Jefferson from David Rittenhouse, 2 July 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-16-02-0353. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 16, 30 November 1789–4 July 1790, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961, pp. 594–596.]
- 15.
Smith (1976, pp. 11–18).
- 16.
Thanks to David Greifenstein, Curator of Manuscripts at the American Philosophical Society (APS), for handing me this volume.
- 17.
Smith, Oak from an Acorn, p. 18.
- 18.
Jefferson (1791) “Monday morn” Letter to David Rittenhouse, asking for return of Journal de Physique, probably 21 March 1791, in the folder “Rough calculations” of David Rittenhouse, Archives of the APS.
- 19.
Gilreath and Wilson, eds. (1989) Thomas Jefferson’s Library: A Catalog with the Entries in His Own Order, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
- 20.
Montucla 1754, pp. 117–122.
- 21.
Massachusetts Historical Society: Online Resource, 1783 Catalog of Books, p. 154.
- 22.
Ibid, 1789 Catalog of Books, p. 37.
- 23.
“Thomas Jefferson to Louis H. Girardin, 18 March 1814,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0169. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 7, 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 250–253.]
References
Hindle, Brooke (1964) David Rittenhouse. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey
Hindle, Brooke, ed. (1980) The Scientific Writings of David Rittenhouse. Arno Press, New York, New York
Gilreath, James and Wilson, Douglas L., eds. (1989) Thomas Jefferson’s Library: A Catalog with the Entries in His Own Order. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Homann, Frederick (1987) David Rittenhouse: Logarithms and Leisure. Mathematics Magazine 60:15–20
Hutton, Charles (1785) Mathematical Tables Containing Logarithms, to which is prefixed A Large and Original History. G.G.J. and J. Robinson and R. Baldwin, Paternoster Row, London
Jefferson, Thomas (1791) Letter to David Rittenhouse, asking for return of Journal de Physique, in the folder “Rough calculations” of David Rittenhouse, Archives of the American Philosophical Society.
Montucla (1754) Histoire des Recherches sur la Quadrature du Cercle. Ch.Ant. Jombert, Libraire du Roi en son Artillerie, rue Dauphine, Paris
Rittenhouse, David (1785) ”To Thomas Jefferson from David Rittenhouse, 28 September 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-08-02-0444. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 8, 25 February–31 October 1785, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953, pp. 565–566]
Rittenhouse, David (1786) ”To Thomas Jefferson from David Rittenhouse, 26 June 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-10-02-0011. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 10, 22 June–31 December 1786, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954, p. 73.]
Rittenhouse, David (1790) ”To Thomas Jefferson from David Rittenhouse, 2 July 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-16-02-0353. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 16, 30 November 1789–4 July 1790, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961, pp. 594–596.]
Rittenhouse, David (1791) “To General Schuyler from David Rittenhouse, 26 February 1791,” Archives of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA
Rittenhouse, David, Relative to a method of finding the sum of the Several powers of the Sines, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 3, (1793), 155–156.
Rittenhouse, David, Method of raising the common logarithm of any number immediately, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 4, (1799), 69–71.
Rufus, W. Carl (1941) David Rittenhouse as a Mathematical Disciple of Newton. Scripta Mathematica 8:228–231
Smith, Murphy D. (1976) Oak from an Acorn: A History of the American Philosophical Society Library. Scholarly Resources, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware
Whitehurst, John (1787) An Attempt Towards Obtaining Invariable Measures of Length, Capacity, and Weight from the Mensuration of Time, Independent of the Mechanical Operations Requisite to Ascertain the Center of Oscillation or the True Length of Pendulums. William Bent, Paternoster Row, London.
Zitarelli, David (2015) David Rittenhouse: Modern Mathematician. Notices of the AMS Vol 62, No. 1: 11–14
Acknowledgements
V. Frederick Rickey and James T. Smith deserve credit for the suggestions they have made which have improved this paper.
Thanks to the librarians and archivists in the reading room at the APS Library for their kind patience. Their influence extended all the way to Texas, in the form of Houston Community College Librarian, Erica Hubbard, who once worked in Benjamin Franklin’s office in Philadelphia at the APS Library; her support was critical.
My research at the APS was funded by the Franklin Grant I received in 2015 from the APS. I would not have applied for that grant, if had not been for the encouragement of the late Edwin Gallaher, poet and math department secretary of the Central Campus of the Houston Community College system, in the fall of 2014.
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Alexander, M.W. (2018). What Mathematics Rittenhouse Knew. In: Zack, M., Schlimm, D. (eds) Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics. Proceedings of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics/ Société canadienne d’histoire et de philosophie des mathématiques. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90983-7_5
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