What mathematics Rittenhouse knew

Marion W. Alexander

pp. 69-89

in: Maria Zack, Dirk Schlimm (eds), Research in history and philosophy of mathematics, Basel, Birkhäuser, 2018

Abstract

New evidence suggests that David Rittenhouse (1732–1796) may have been a more mathematically sophisticated scientist than has previously been thought. Based on his correspondence with Jefferson, some of the scratch work in his diary, and a new examination of some of the mathematical literature known to have passed through his hands as Librarian of the American Philosophical Society (APS), Rittenhouse's mathematical papers appear in a different light.