- Also spelled:
- Hariot
- Born:
- 1560, Oxford, Eng.
- Died:
- July 2, 1621, London (aged 61)
- Subjects Of Study:
- equation
Thomas Harriot
-
Who was Thomas Harriot?
Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) was an English mathematician, astronomer, and investigator of the natural world. Supported by Sir Walter Raleigh and Henry Percy, he never affiliated with an academic institution after his student years. From 1585 to 1586, Harriot participated in Raleigh’s colony on Roanoke Island and published A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588) after his return. Later, he lived on and surveyed Raleigh’s estates in Ireland.
In 1595, Percy settled an estate upon Harriot and provided him with a house near London to use as a scientific laboratory. There, he researched astronomy, meteorology, optics, and pure and applied mathematics. He was among the first to consider the imaginary roots of equations and devised a novel form of cross-staff, an early navigational instrument.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What scientific fields did Thomas Harriot work in?
Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) was an English mathematician, astronomer, and investigator of the natural world.
Harriot's scientific pursuits were wide-ranging:
- Astronomy: He made telescopic observations of the Moon, Jupiter's moons, sunspots, and comets, beginning around the same time as Galileo.
- Mathematics: Harriot explored pure and applied mathematics, including the imaginary roots of equations. His work also addressed navigation issues, such as constructing rhumb lines on sailing charts. The posthumously published Artis Analyticae Praxis ad Aequationes Algebraicas Resolvendas (1631) was his only other book.
- Optics: He performed experiments in the refraction of light and is credited with discovering the sine law of refraction.
- Meteorology: Harriot conducted research in meteorology.
- Navigation: He devised a novel form of cross-staff, an early navigational instrument, and addressed navigation questions.
- Ballistics: He performed experiments in ballistics.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is Thomas Harriot famous for discovering or inventing?
Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) was an English mathematician, astronomer, and investigator of the natural world. He is known for his contributions to navigation, astronomy, and mathematics.
Harriot devised a novel form of cross-staff, an early navigational instrument, and also worked on the construction of rhumb lines on sailing charts. In 1588, he released his only published work during his lifetime, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. Furthermore, Harriot was one of the first to consider the imaginary roots of equations.
After Galileo Galilei introduced telescopic observations of the heavens in 1609, Harriot began his own telescopic observations, creating charts of the Moon, tracking Jupiter's moons, and observing sunspots and comets.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Thomas Harriot contribute to mathematics?
Thomas Harriot was a mathematician, astronomer, and investigator of the natural world. He made significant contributions to mathematics, particularly in navigation, including devising a novel form of cross-staff and constructing rhumb lines on sailing charts. Harriot was also among the first to consider the imaginary roots of equations. His posthumously published Artis Analyticae Praxis ad Aequationes Algebraicas Resolvendas (1631) introduced the signs • for multiplication, > for greater than, and < for less than.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Thomas Harriot’s work help develop astronomy?
Thomas Harriot contributed to the development of astronomy through his telescopic observations, which began around the same time as Galileo Galilei's in 1609. Harriot systematically charted the Moon, tracked Jupiter's moons, observed sunspots, and studied comets. Although he kept some of his findings private, such as the sine law of refraction, his work was known among scholars, and astronomer Johannes Kepler even corresponded with him.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Thomas Harriot’s discoveries influence other scientists or history?
Thomas Harriot was a mathematician, astronomer, and investigator of the natural world whose work, though largely unpublished, influenced his contemporaries and later scholars.
Harriot's discoveries and studies contributed to advancements in navigation, astronomy, and mathematics. He devised a novel form of cross-staff and considered the imaginary roots of equations. He also observed the heavens telescopically, charting the Moon, tracking Jupiter's moons, and observing sunspots and comets, concurrently with Galileo Galilei.
Although he kept some discoveries secret, such as the sine law of refraction, Harriot shared his knowledge with a group of scholars. His work gained recognition in England and abroad, with astronomer Johannes Kepler initiating correspondence with him. Harriot's posthumously published book also introduced mathematical notations that are still in use today.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Thomas Harriot (born 1560, Oxford, Eng.—died July 2, 1621, London) was a mathematician, astronomer, and investigator of the natural world.
Little is known of him before he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oxford in 1580. Throughout his working life, he was supported by the patronage, at different times, of Sir Walter Raleigh and Henry Percy, the 9th earl of Northumberland; he was never, after his student years, affiliated with an academic institution or commercial organization. From 1585 to 1586 he participated in Raleigh’s colony on Roanoke Island, and he may have visited Virginia as early as 1584; upon his return, he published A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588). This was his only work published during his lifetime. Very soon after the Virginia sojourn, Harriot was living on and surveying Raleigh’s estates in Ireland.
In 1595 Percy settled upon Harriot an estate in Durham, England, and soon provided him with a house near London, which he also used as a scientific laboratory to pursue original research in astronomy, meteorology, optics, and what are now characterized as pure and applied mathematics. In particular, he performed experiments in ballistics and the refraction of light. He was one of the first, if not the first, to consider the imaginary roots of equations. Much of his earliest as well as latest mathematical work bore on questions of navigation, including such issues as the construction of rhumb lines (or loxodromes) on sailing charts. He also devised a novel form of cross-staff, an early navigational instrument. (See navigation: latitude measurements.) Although, after his early voyages, he pursued a life of research, it was not a life free of turmoil, since his principal patron, Raleigh, was imprisoned in 1603 in the Tower of London on orders of King James I of England. Harriot witnessed Raleigh’s execution in 1618. In the turmoil following the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, Harriot was arrested upon suspicion of having cast the king’s horoscope, though he was soon released. (Percy, as a co-conspirator in the plot, joined Raleigh in the Tower of London.) From the early 1590s, Harriot had developed a reputation for atheism and was referred to rather obliquely as a conjurer by Raleigh’s enemies. However, there is nothing in Harriot’s writings or those of his friends to substantiate any non-Christian beliefs; the accusations may merely reflect his likely belief in atomism, which at the time was considered by some to obviate the necessity for the existence of God.
Concurrently with Galileo Galilei’s introduction of telescopic observations of the heavens in 1609, Harriot commenced telescopic observations, some systematic, others not. He drew charts of the Moon, followed the paths of the moons of Jupiter, and observed sunspots. He also observed comets.
During his lifetime Harriot was known in England among the philosophically inclined, and his reputation extended to the continent to the extent that the astronomer Johannes Kepler initiated a correspondence with him. His only other book, however, was the posthumously published Artis Analyticae Praxis ad Aequationes Algebraicas Resolvendas (1631; “Application of Analytical Art to Solving Algebraic Equations”). (The editor of this work introduced the signs ∙ for multiplication, > for greater than, and < for less than.) Although Harriot published little and kept some of his studies secret, such as the discovery of the sine law of refraction (now known as Snell’s law), his work was not done in isolation; he drew around himself a group of admiring scholars, at least some of whom were cognizant of some of his discoveries. In subsequent centuries Harriot was never forgotten, but it has been mainly since the mid-20th century that scholars have made close and systematic studies of his thousands of pages of manuscripts and uncovered the full extent of his investigations.