David Rittenhouse
| David Rittenhouse | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
April 8, 1732 Paper Mill Run, Pennsylvania |
| Died | June 26, 1796 (aged 64) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Astronomer Inventor Mathematician |
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.
Rittenhouse was born in a small village within Philadelphia called Rittenhousetown. This village is located near Germantown, along the stream Paper Mill Run, which is a tiny tributary of the Wissahickon Creek.
When his uncle William Rittenhouse died, Rittenhouse inherited his uncle's set of carpentry tools and instructional books. Using his uncle's tools, he began a career as an inventor. Also at a young age, Rittenhouse showed a high level of intelligence by creating a working scale model of his great-grandfather William Rittenhouse's paper mill. He built other scale models in his youth, like a working waterwheel. He was self-taught from his family's books, never attended elementary school, and showed great ability in science and mathematics. When Rittenhouse was 13 years of age, he had mastered Isaac Newton's laws of motion and gravity.
When he was 19, he started a scientific instrument shop at his father's farm in what is now Valley Forge Medical Center & Hospital, located in East Norriton Township, Pennsylvania. His skill with instruments, particularly clocks, led him to construct two orreries (scale models of the solar system), the first for The College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University), the second for the College of Philadelphia (now known as the University of Pennsylvania). Rittenhouse was prevailed upon to construct the second orrery by his friend, the Reverend William Smith, the first provost of the College of Philadelphia, who was upset that Rittenhouse would deliver such a device to a college located in the rural area of New Jersey, rather than in Philadelphia, which was seeking to be one of the important centers of the 18th century enlightenment and for the study of "natural philosophy" such as astronomy. Both of these orreries still exist, with each being held by their original recipients: one in the library of the University of Pennsylvania and the other at Peyton Hall of Princeton University.
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