Isaac Dalby facts for kids
Isaac Dalby (1744 – 16 October 1824) was a clever English mathematician, surveyor, and teacher. He helped with the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain. This was the first very accurate survey of Great Britain using trigonometry.
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Isaac Dalby's Early Life and Learning
Isaac Dalby was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1744. He went to a local school. People expected him to work with cloth, like a clothworker. But Isaac loved numbers and taught himself mathematics. Because of his math skills, he got a job as an usher (a kind of assistant teacher) in a country school. After three years, he decided to open his own school.
Moving to London and New Jobs
His own school didn't work out. So, in 1772, Isaac Dalby moved to London. There, he found a job teaching arithmetic at Archbishop Tenison's School in Lambeth. Later, a rich man named Topham Beauclerk hired him. Dalby helped Beauclerk with looking at the stars and planets. Beauclerk even built a special building for these observations. Isaac Dalby also worked as the librarian for Beauclerk's huge collection of books.
Working on Important Surveys
When Topham Beauclerk died in 1780, Isaac Dalby's job ended. The next year, he became a math teacher at a naval school in Chelsea. This school also closed later.
In 1787, a famous scientific instrument maker, Jesse Ramsden, recommended Dalby to General William Roy. From 1787 to 1790, Dalby helped General Roy with a big project. This project was called the Anglo-French survey. Its goal was to connect the Greenwich meridian (the line of longitude that runs through Greenwich, London) with the Paris meridian in France.
Later, Isaac Dalby worked with Colonel Edward Williams and Captain William Mudge. They were part of the trigonometrical survey of England and Wales. This was a very important project to create accurate maps of the country.
Becoming a Professor
In 1799, Isaac Dalby became the first professor of mathematics. This was at the senior department of the Royal Military College, High Wycombe. This college later moved to Farnham in Surrey. Eventually, it became the famous Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Dalby held this important teaching job for twenty-one years. He retired in 1820 because he was getting old and unwell.
Isaac Dalby also wrote for a publication called The Ladies' Diary. He was one of the first members of the Linnean Society of London, which is a group for people interested in nature.
Later Life and Death
Isaac Dalby passed away in Farnham on 16 October 1824. He was buried at St Andrew's Church in Farnham. His wife, Lucy, died the following year in 1825.
