Nathaniel Bowditch, Biography 2

Rion Koball

Mr. Percival

Astronomy Period 1

January 11, 2011

Nathaniel Bowditch

     Nathaniel Bowditch, was self-educated American mathematician and astronomer. He was the author of the best American book on navigation of his time and the translator of the book Celestial Mechanics. He is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation. His book The New American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, is still carried on board every commissioned U.S. Naval vessel.

     Nathaniel Bowditch was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Bowditch’s formal education ended when he was ten years old and family circumstances forced him to work for two years in his father’s cooperage shop. At the age of twelve he became indentured and worked as a bookkeeper to a ship chandler.


    At age fourteen, Bowditch began to study algebra and two years later he taught himself calculus. He also taught himself Latin and French so he was able to read mathematical works, such as Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. He discovered thousands of errors in John Hamilton Moore's The New Practical Navigator. He copied all the mathematical papers he found in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Among his many significant scientific contributions would be a translation of Pierre-Simon de Laplace's Mécanique céleste, a lengthy work on mathematics and theoretical astronomy.

      Between 1795 and 1799 Bowditch made four long sea voyages, and in 1802 he was put in command of a merchant vessel. All through that period, he pursued his interest in mathematics. After investigating the accuracy of The Practical Navigator, a work by the Englishman J.H. Moore, he created a revised edition in 1799. His additions became so numerous that in 1802 he published The New American Practical Navigator, based on Moore’s book, which was adopted by the U.S. Department of the Navy, and went through some 60 editions.

      Bowditch also wrote many scientific papers, one of which was on the motion of a pendulum swinging simultaneously about two axes at right angles. This was to describe the motion of the Earth as seen from the moon. It was a description of the so called, Bowditch-curves, or the Lassajous figures.

      Bowditch provided a masterful translation of the first four volumes of Laplace's monumental work on the gravitation of heavenly bodies, Traité de mécanique céleste. To help with the difficulty of the mathematics, Bowditch provided an extensive commentary that more than doubled the size of the original writing. The resulting work, Celestial Mechanics, was published in four volumes in 1829–1839 to widespread international acclaim. Bowditch wrote several notes on the fifth and final volume but died before he was able to complete the translation.

     Bowditch turned down offerings from many universities . He was president of the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Salem and worked as an actuary for the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company of Boston. In recognition of his achievements he was admitted as an honorary member to several foreign academies, including the Royal Society. From 1829 until his death he was president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.