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Collection Reference Number GLC05974
From Archive Folder Documents Relating to 1777 
Title David Rittenhouse to John Page regarding a solar eclipse
Date 18 August 1777
Author Rittenhouse, David (1732-1796)  
Recipient Page, John  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description Written by Rittenhouse, a well-known astronomer and instrument maker, as Pennsylvania state treasurer to Page as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. References Page's letter of 25 March 1777. Thanks him sending his observations on the eclipse of the sun and the transit of Mercury. Says he is going to do a write up of the eclipse and needs Williamsburg, Virginia's (where Page wrote from) true longitude. Says next eclipse of the sun in June will be total. Discusses in detail the angle of observation for an eclipse and the path of Venus. Says he will send something to Page for publication since "our Society" - the American Philosophical Society - has discontinued meetings because of disputes between Tories and Whigs.
Subjects Space  Science and Technology  Politics  Revolutionary War  Loyalist  
People Rittenhouse, David (1732-1796)  Page, John (1744-1808)  
Place written Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Theme Science, Technology, Invention
Sub-collection The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859
Additional Information Rittenhouse, a clockmaker by trade, developed great skill in the making of mathematical instruments. He was called upon to determine, with his own instruments, the boundary lines of several states and also part of the boundary known as the Mason-Dixon Line. In 1769 he was asked by the American Philosophical Society to observe the transit of Venus. His contributions include the use of measured grating intervals and spider threads on the focus of the telescope. Active in public affairs, he was a member of the convention that framed Pennsylvania's constitution and was state treasurer (1777–89) and director of the U.S. mint (1792–95). After the Revolution he was an Anti-Federalist. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin as president (1791–96) of the American Philosophical Society
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859