Benjamin Banneker

and Paul-André
Meyer
(Profile and Contributions in
mathematics)

Prepared by: Erika A. Quindipan

12/18/18
Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was born

November 9, 1731 in Maryland
Colony. His mother, Mary, was the
daughter of a white man and an
African American slave. Benjamin’s
father was a free African American but
Benjamin took his mother’s last name.
Died: October 9, 1806
Baltimore County, Maryland
Benjamin Banneker
In 1737, Benjamin moved to
Baltimore County where he
lived on a 100 acre tobacco
farm.
He learned to read the Bible
but he preferred arithmetic.
He did attend an integrated
school part-time as a
teenager and read borrowed
textbooks.
Benjamin Banneker

In 1751, when Benjamin was

20, he decided to build a
clock. After studying a
pocket watch, he built a
wooden clock.
After his father died in 1759,
Benjamin successfully ran
the farm with his mother.
Benjamin Banneker
In 1771, three Quaker brothers
immigrated from Pennsylvania,
became Benjamin’s neighbors,
and set up a mill on their 700
acre farm. They provided
enough flour for Baltimore and
even exported flour to Europe.
Benjamin became close friends
with George Ellicott, one of their
sons, who was 29 years
younger.
Benjamin Banneker

In 1788, George loaned

Benjamin some
astronomical instruments
and Benjamin became
very interested in
astronomy.
He learned quickly enough
that he was able to predict
a 1789 solar eclipse.
Benjamin Banneker
The next year, at age 59,
Benjamin gave up farming.
His astronomy skills attracted
the attention of Major Andrew
Ellicott, one of the three
Ellicott brothers and head
surveyor for the new national
capital project. Major Ellicott
needed an assistant. George
recommended Benjamin.
Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin had been in contact

with another great inventor and
planner, Thomas Jefferson.
The future president had been
so impressed by Banneker's
skills that he had also
recommended him for
employment as an assistant
surveyor of the new federal
district.
Benjamin Banneker

In 1791 Benjamin became an

assistant in the survey of what
would become Washington
DC. Benjamin lived in
Alexandria, Virginia in the
home of Andrew Ellicott, the
project’s principle surveyor,
while working on the project.
Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin’s main task was to
maintain the astronomical clock.
He had to see that the time
would always be as accurate as
possible.
He also observed the stars each
night. Using the clock and
observations, plus information in
books, he ensured that the
latitude the surveyors noted was
correct.
Benjamin Banneker

Pierre L’Enfant,
the architect of
the new capital
city then used
the survey to
ensure that
what he laid out
would be
accurate.
Benjamin Banneker

This is the original of L’Enfant’s map.

Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker

L’Enfant confirmed in his notes on the map that the

lines were based on “celestial observation” leaving
nothing to the “uncertainty of the compass.”
Benjamin Banneker

A year later, Benjamin

wrote his first almanac
and George helped get it
published in 1792. He
continued to publish
almanacs every year to
1797.
Benjamin Banneker

He called his
almanac the
Pennsylvania,
Delaware,
Maryland, and
Virginia
Almanac and
Ephemeris.
Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker

And, of course, a day by day prediction of the weather and

other notable events.
Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker

There is a short biography, noting that he

learned “reading, writing, and arithmetic”
Benjamin Banneker

and that he learned astronomy and how to

make an almanac in about three years.
Benjamin Banneker

The almanac editors also included

information on Banneker being African
American and pointed out that this
scholarly work was, as Banneker said,
“the first attempt of the kind that was
ever made in American by a person of
my complexion.”
Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker

August 19, 1791,

Benjamin wrote a
letter to Thomas
Jefferson, then
Secretary of State. In
it, he enclosed a
manuscript copy of
his first almanac.
Benjamin Banneker
In the letter Banneker complains that
although African Americans "have
long been considered rather as
brutish than human, and scarcely
capable of mental endowments, . . .
one universal Father hath given
being to us all; and that he hath not
only made us all of one flesh, but
that he hath also, without partiality,
afforded us all the same sensations
and endowed us all with the same
faculties."
Benjamin Banneker

In the same letter

Banneker also quotes
from the first lines of the
Declaration of
Independence:
"We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all
men are created equal . .
. ."
 Contribution in
Mathematics
Banneker’s Mathematical Puzzles- composed of six puzzles
were published in an excellent biography of him written by Silvio
Bedini.
-written in verse
Rule:
Take any number and perform the same operations with it as are
described in the question.
Then say, as the sum of the errors is to the given sum, so is the
supposed number to the true one required.
Proof
Add the several parts of the sum together, and if it agrees with the
sum, it is right."
Paul-André
Meyer
Paul-André Meyer
Born: 21 August 1934 in
Boulogne-Billancourt, near
Paris, France
Died: 30 January 2003 in
Strasbourg, France
was a French mathematician,
who played a major role in the
development of the general
theory of stochastic processes
Paul-André Meyer
He worked at the Institut de Recherche
Mathématique (IRMA) in Strasbourg.
Paul-André Meyer was not given the name
Meyer when he was born but rather he took
the family name of Meyerowitz. Nobody in his
family had been interested in mathematics;
his father was a trader who fled from France
shortly after the outbreak of World War II.
Paul-André Meyer
He is best known for his continuous-time analog of
Doob's decomposition of a submartingale, known
as the Doob–Meyer decomposition.
Some of his main areas of research in probability
theory were the general theory of stochastic
processes, Markov processes, stochastic
integration, stochastic differential geometry and
quantum probability. His most cited book is
Probabilities and Potential B, written with Claude
Dellacherie.
Paul-André Meyer
The preceding book is the English translation of the
second book in a series of five written by Meyer and
Dellacherie from 1975 to 1992 and elaborated from
Meyer's pioneering book Probabilités et Potentiel,
published in 1966.
Séminaire de Probabilités
'Probabilités et potentiel'
General theory of stochastic processes-This theory
was concerned with the mathematical foundations of
the theory of continuous time stochastic processes,
especially Markov processes.
Thank you!!!