Q2 Biography: Nathaniel Bowditch

Nathaniel Bowditch

            Nathaniel Bowditch is the son of father Habakkuk Bowditch, and mother Mary Ingersoll. His father was a cooper, which was a maker and repairman of wooden casks. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, but was moved to Danvers, Massachusetts at a young age. When Nathaniel was seven years old he was moved back to Salem, Massachusetts. His family was poor as his father’s business collapsed. Nathaniel went to school until he was ten years old, but due to his family’s financial troubles he had to work in his father’s business rather than continue in school. After two years of working for his father’s business, Nathaniel, at the age of twelve, became an apprentice clerk for the Hodges and Ropes in Salem. He served under the ship’s chandler shop in the Hodges and Ropes. The shop dealt with the supplies for ships. When he was working under the ship’s chandler shop he studied education in the subjects of mathematics and foreign languages. He studied subjects that ranged from philosophy to calculus. At the age of thirteen, Nathaniel wrote a book on marine navigation. At the age of fifteen, Nathaniel constructed multiple astronomical, sea, and naval instruments such as a barometer. One way in which Nathaniel learnt all the subject he did was from a Richard Kirwan’s personal library. At the time, Kirwan was a major Irish chemist. When a privateer from Salem   intercepted and captured Kirwan’s ship, it was brought back to Salem. There it was available to Nathaniel for him to use and study from. He was able to study from Kirwan’s library from June 1791 on. He also taught himself French using a simple French-language dictionary. Nathaniel also taught himself Latin simply so that he could read and understand Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica. When Nathaniel turned seventeen he changed jobs again and started working for Samuel C. Ward. Nathaniel eventually started making voyages across the seas. From 1795 to 1799, Nathaniel made four journeys across the sea. He traveled across in merchant ships. In 1802 he became a commander and part owner of one of these merchant ships. During his journeys he perfected certain studies such as French. Nathaniel Bowditch married Elizabeth Boardman in 1798, but the only problem is that she died seven months after the wedding. Nathaniel’s father died several months after his wife’s death. His father died due to a paralytic stroke. Nathaniel was on his fourth voyage to Spain when he received the news of his wife’s death. In 1800, Nathaniel married his cousin, Mary Ingersoll. Nathaniel and Mary lived in a mansion with his ex-wife’s mother. Between 1805 and 1823 Nathaniel and Mary had eight children. In 1799 Nathaniel was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He later became the Academy’s president from 1829 to 1838. In 1818 Nathaniel was elected to the Edinburgh and London Royal Societies and later joined the Irish Royal Academy, the Royal Astronomical Society of London, the Royal Academies of Palermo and Berlin, and the British Association. Nathaniel also declined an offer from Thomas Jefferson to be the mathematics chair at the new University of Virginia. Beginning in 1812 Nathaniel worked on an English translation of Pierre Laplace’s Traité de mécanique céleste. Nathaniel also wrote multiple articles on the subjects of spherical trigonometry, magnetic compass variations, the Earth’s oblateness, celestial table corrections, and the behavior of twin pendulums. In 1823, at the age of 50, Nathaniel moved to Boston where he became the actuary of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company. Nathaniel’s wife Mary died of tuberculosis in 1834. The death of his second wife hit Nathaniel hard as he almost immediately slowed down on his studies and writings. He took more time to read poetry, history, and biographies. He attended church all of his life. It was said about him that he       was a firm and decided Unitarian. Nathaniel did not enjoy dwelling on the       distinctive and dividing points of Christian doctrine. Later on in 1838, Nathaniel Bowditch died due to his stomach cancer. He was buried next to his wife in the Trinity Church in Boston. He was later reburied and moved to the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.