Mission Bay High School -

A Salute to Black History:

Benneker: Pioneer Inventor

By Matthew Garrett
Benjamin Banneker--astronomer, mathematician, and surveyor¾is known as the man who invented the almanac. Born on November 9, 1731 in Ellicott City, Maryland, Banneker taught himself as a boy after studying a pocket watch that a friend gave to him. The watch inspired him to make his own watch, entirely of wood in 1753, which kept perfect time for 40 years.
After the Revolutionary War, Banneker took up astronomy; in 1789 he successfully predicted an eclipse. From 1792 to 1802, Banneker published an annual farmer’s almanac. He did all of the calculations himself from the tide tables, to the future eclipses, and even some medicinal formulas. The almanac was the first scientific book published by an African American.
Gaining fame from his almanac, Banneker was appointed by George Washington to the District of Columbia Commission to do survey work that established the city’s boundaries.
Banneker sent his first copy of his almanac to Thomas Jefferson to counter Jefferson’s belief of Africans being intellectually inferior. Jefferson responded with enthusiastic words, but unfortunately Banneker’s attempts were mostly ignored. He spent his last years as an internationally known farmer, engineer, surveyor, city planner, astronomer, mathematician, inventor, author, and social critic. He died on October 25, 1806. Even though prejudice flourished in America at that time, Banneker did not let that stop him from his thirst for knowledge.


A Salute to Black History: Benneker: Pioneer Inventor By Matthew Garrett Benjamin Banneker--astronomer, mathematician, and surveyor¾is known as the man who invented the almanac. Born on November 9, 1731 in Ellicott City, Maryland, Banneker taught himself as a boy after studying a pocket watch that a friend gave to him. The watch inspired him to make his own watch, entirely of wood in 1753, which kept perfect time for 40 years. After the Revolutionary War, Banneker took up astronomy; in 1789 he successfully predicted an eclipse. From 1792 to 1802, Banneker published an annual farmer’s almanac. He did all of the calculations himself from the tide tables, to the future eclipses, and even some medicinal formulas. The almanac was the first scientific book published by an African American. Gaining fame from his almanac, Banneker was appointed by George Washington to the District of Columbia Commission to do survey work that established the city’s boundaries. Banneker sent his first copy of his almanac to Thomas Jefferson to counter Jefferson’s belief of Africans being intellectually inferior. Jefferson responded with enthusiastic words, but unfortunately Banneker’s attempts were mostly ignored. He spent his last years as an internationally known farmer, engineer, surveyor, city planner, astronomer, mathematician, inventor, author, and social critic. He died on October 25, 1806. Even though prejudice flourished in America at that time, Banneker did not let that stop him from his thirst for knowledge.
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