Benjamin Banneker

banneker-benjamin-clock.gif
Permission granted by mad_mail@yahoo.com

Back to Minorities Matter
Growing

Mathematician
       and
Astronomer:
Background

*Born November 9, 1731 in Baltimore County, Maryland

*Raised by grandmother who taught him to read and write

*Had gifts for mathematics

math.gif

*As a young child, created mathematical puzzles and solved them

*During later years, met George Ellicott, who interested Banneker in science

*Ellicot got Banneker into the study of astromony by lending him books on astronomy as well as instruments which he could study

Fun clock
*Benjamin Banneker died on October 25, 1806

Quotes

"Ah, Why will men forget that they are brethren?" (Banneker in "The First African American Inventor 2)

"I am of the African race, and in the color which is natural to them of the deepest eye, and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler.
(Banneker in "Letter to Thomas Jefferson" 1)

"The color of the skin is in no way connected with the strength of the mind or intellectual powers" (Banneker in "Preface to Almanac" 2)

"Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrupts bad manners. (Banneker in "Banneker's Almanac" 1)

Links
banneker-almanac.gif
Permission granted by mad_mail@yahoo.com

Accomplishments
clockalarm.gif

*Age twenty-one, he constructed a clock with no knowledge of clocks other than examining a pocket watch

*This clock, which ran for forty years, Banneker saw as a mathematical challenge

*Learned how to make estimates for lunar and solar eclipses

*He categorized an ephermis to be included in an almanac

~gained fame after the publishing of his almanac

~hoped that his fame would wipe out racism

~After fame spread and he accomplished his work, Benjamin Banneker died on October 25, 1806

*Designed the city of Washington D.C.

Bibliography

"Animation Factory."Online. Internet Explorer. 5/16/02. http://www.animationfactory.com

Banneker, Benjamin. "Banneker's Almanac." Online. Internet Explorer. http://library.thinkquest.org/10854/quotes.html#bban

Banneker, Benjamin in "The First American Inventor:Benjamin Banneker." Online.Internet Explorer.9/10/01. http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsA-H/Banneker.html.

Banneker, Benjamin. "Letter to Thomas Jefferson." Online. Internet Explorer. http://library.thinkquest.org/10854/quotes.html#bban

Bannaker, Benjamin. "Preface to Almanac." Online. Internet Explorer. http://library.thinkquest.org/10854/quotes.html#bban

"The First American Inventor:Benjamin Banneker." Online. Internet Explorer. 9/10/01. http://web.mit.edu/inventA-H/Banneker.html

Litwin,Laura Baskes. Benjamin Banneker:Astronomer and Mathematician. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers Inc., 1999.

William, Dr. "Banneker-Benjamin-clock.gif." Online. Internet Explorer. altavista.com. http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/special/banneker-benjamin.html

created by LL2- Sophomore, Lansing Catholic Central High School