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Biography

Thomas Harriot was recognized for his contributions in astronomy, mathematics, and navigational techniques. Harriot worked closely with John White to create advanced maps for navigation.  While Harriot worked extensively on numerous papers on the subjects of astronomy, mathematics, and navigation the amount of work that was actually published was sparse. So sparse, that the only publication that has been produced by Harriot was “The Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia.” The premise of the book includes descriptions of english settlement and financial issues in Virginia at the time.

Early Life

The title page of "A Breife and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia"

Harriot started to study navigation shortly after receiving a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University. The study of navigation that Harriot studied concentrated on the idea of the open seas and how to cross to the New World from the Atlantic Ocean. He used instruments such as the astrolabe and sextants to aide his studies of navigation. After educating himself by incorporating ideals from his astronomic and nautical studies, Harriot taught other captains his navigational techniques in Raleigh. His findings were recorded in the Articon but was later never found.

Later Years

Thomas Harriot looking at the Moon through his telescope at Syon Park.

Around 1605, Harriot was imprisoned for a minimal amount of time due to the crimes involved with the Ninth Earl of Northumberland and the attempted assassination of King James I of England which was also known as the Jesuit Treason. While this was occurring, Harriot continued his work involving mainly astronomy and in 1607, Harriot used his notes from the observations of the Halley’s Comet to elaborate on his understanding of its orbit. Soon after in 1609 and 1610 respectively, Harriot turned his attention towards the physical aspects of the moon and his observations of the first sightings of sunspots.

Death

It was suspected that Harriot’s cancer diagnosis was due to excessive tobacco consumption.

Telescope and Moon Mapping

Harriot's illustration of the moon from 1609.

On July 26^th 2009, Harriot was recognized as the first person to draw his observations of the moon by the use of his own telescope. The descriptions recorded by Harriot contained easily identifiable errors such as the discrepancy regarding which parts of the moon were supposed to be dark and light. The descriptions of the moon were modified by the more detailed works of Galileo. Harriot also fails to mention or incorporate a description of the moon that details what one would see during a lunar eclipse. Critics such as Terrie Bloom, accused Harriot of plagiarizing depictions directly from Galileo’s works and argued that Harriot’s representation of the moon was an inadequate representation that needed to be improved.  However, both descriptions were also deemed valuable due to the scientists focusing on different specific observations. Galileo describes the arrangement in a topographical way while Harriot used cartographical concepts to illustrate his views of the moon. Harriot used a 6X Dutch telescope for his observations of the moon. Harriot’s recordings and descriptions were very simple with minimal detail causing his sketches to be difficult to analyze by later scientists. Furthermore, there was controversy regarding Harriot's depiction and position of the craters as well as the terminating line between the dark and light parts of the moon. While Harriot’s contributions were known to precede Galileo’s observations by months, Harriot’s lack of publication until 1784 caused Galileo to attain a greater amount of recognition. Galileo’s competing astronomical observations regarding the moon were published in his book Sidereus Nuncius in 1610. Harriot’s lack of publication is presumed to be connected to the issues with the Ninth Earl of Northumberland and the Gunpowder Plot. Harriot was also known to have read and admired the work of Galileo in Sidereus Nuncius and continued his observations of the moon until 1612.

Sunspots

Thomas Harriot is recognized as the first person to observe sunspots in 1610 with the use of a telescope. Harriot observed the sunspot with the use of a telescope in a direct and hazardous way. Even though Harriot observed the sun directly through his telescope, there was no recorded injuries to his eyes. Harriot’s depiction of the sunspots were documented in 199 drawings that provided details about the solar rotation and its acceleration. Like many of Harriot's other notes, depictions of the sunspots were not published. Similar to the early observation of the moon, Galileo was also known to contribute his observations of sunspots and published his findings in 1613. The specifics as to how Harriot's telescope was set up remains largely unknown. However, it is known that Harriot used different magnifications of telescopes with 10X and 20X power being used most often. Harriot chose to observe the sunspots after sunrise because it made the vertical easier to analyze. According to Harriot's notes there was a total of 690 observations of sunspots recorded. Harriot’s findings challenged the idea of the unchanging heavens by explaining the sun’s axial rotation and provided further support for the heliocentric theory.

Compounding

In 1620, Harriot’s unpublished papers were found to include the early basis of continuous compounding. Harriot uses modern mathematical concepts to explain the process behind continuous compounding. The concept of compounded interest occurs when the more times interest is added within the year assuming the rate stays the same then the final interest will be larger. Based on this observation, Harriot created mathematical equations that included logarithms and series calculations to illustrate his concepts.