Reuben Burrow facts for kids
Reuben Burrow (born December 30, 1747 – died June 7, 1792) was a very smart English mathematician and surveyor. He was also an "orientalist," which means he studied the languages and cultures of Asia.
Reuben started his career as a teacher. Later, he became an assistant to Sir Nevil Maskelyne, who was the top astronomer in Britain at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Reuben even helped with a famous science project called the Schiehallion experiment, which measured the Earth's gravity.
He then traveled to India, where he taught himself Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. He became one of the first members of the Asiatic Society, a group dedicated to studying Asia. One of his biggest achievements was being the first person to measure the length of a degree of longitude (a line running north to south around the Earth) along the Tropic of Cancer. He also studied ancient Indian mathematics. Even though he was very talented, some people found him a bit rough around the edges compared to other scientists of his time.
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Early Life and Education
Reuben Burrow was born in a place called Hoberley, near Shadwell, in Leeds, England. His father was a small farmer who made sure Reuben got some schooling, even though he sometimes had to help out on the farm.
From a young age, Reuben showed a real talent and passion for mathematics. He learned a lot from a schoolmaster named Crooks in Leeds. When he was 18, he walked for four days all the way from Leeds to London to find a job! He managed to get a job as a clerk in a London business.
A year later, he became an assistant teacher in a school run by Benjamin Webb, a well-known writing teacher. After that, Reuben decided to open his own school in Portsmouth. There, he taught mathematics to young sailors who wanted to become officers.
Working with Astronomers
Reuben's skills in mathematics became known, and Nevil Maskelyne, the famous Astronomer Royal, offered him a job at the Greenwich Observatory. However, Reuben was known for being a bit argumentative, and he found it hard to work with Maskelyne, who was very polite and proper. So, Reuben soon left that job.
In 1772, he married Anne Purvis and started another school in Greenwich.
In 1774, Reuben and another person named William Menzies helped Maskelyne with the Schiehallion experiment. This experiment involved measuring how a mountain's gravity slightly pulls on a special weight called a plumbline. Reuben later felt that his hard work wasn't properly recognized.
Soon after, he got a job as a math teacher at the Tower of London, where officers for the army were trained. His salary was £100 a year. While there, he became the editor of a publication called Ladies and Gentlemen's Diary, or Royal Almanack. This diary included mathematical puzzles and problems. Reuben often had disagreements with other mathematicians, including Charles Hutton, who edited a rival diary.
Reuben also did some survey work. In 1777, he helped survey the coast of England to see if it was vulnerable to attacks from the French. He later complained that he wasn't paid for this work.
Adventures in India
In 1782, Reuben decided to go to India. He left his wife and growing family behind and sailed on a ship called the General Coote. The journey was long, and Reuben even had arguments with other people on the ship.
Once he arrived in India, he wrote to the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, explaining that he wanted to earn money to do more scientific research. For a while, he taught in Calcutta. He was very interested in ancient mathematics, especially from India. He taught himself Sanskrit so he could read old Indian math books. He also collected many old manuscripts.
Reuben was appointed as a math teacher for the engineers' corps in India. He also helped with plans for a big survey of Bengal.
Measuring the Earth
Reuben was one of the first members of The Asiatic Society, a group started by William Jones to study Asian cultures and sciences.
In 1788, another scientist, William Roy, suggested that Reuben would be perfect to measure a part of the Earth's surface in Bengal. In 1790, Reuben asked the East India Company to set up an "Indian Greenwich" (like the observatory in England), but his idea was not approved.
Reuben got some instruments from a late Colonel named Thomas Dean Pearse and started his own measurements near Calcutta in 1791. He measured a section of the Earth both along lines of latitude and longitude. Even though his equipment wasn't perfect, his observations were used by his friend Isaac Dalby to figure out the length of a meridian arc (a section of a line of longitude) along the Tropic of Cancer. This measurement was about 68.70 miles (105.64 km) long.
Sadly, Reuben got sick with malaria and passed away in Buxar, India, on June 7, 1792. His wife, son, and three daughters, who had joined him in India in 1790, returned home after his death. His son later died while serving in the East India Company.
After Reuben's death, his friend Isaac Dalby published a book in 1796 called A Short Account of the late Mr. Burrow's Measurement of a Degree of Longitude and another of Latitude near the tropic in Bengal.
Writings
Most of Reuben Burrow's scientific papers were published in a journal called Asiatick Researches. Some of his findings were shared after his death by his friend Isaac Dalby.
- A method of calculating the moon's parallaxes in latitude and longitude.
- Hints relative to friction in Mechanics.
- Remarks on the Artificial Horizon.
- Demonstration of a theorem concerning the intersection of curves.
- Corrections of the lunar method of finding the longitude.
- A synopsis of the different cases that may happen in deducing the longitude of one place from another by means of Arnold's chronometers.
- A proof that the Hindoos had the binomial theorem.
- Memorandums concerning an old building.
- Observations on some of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites.
- A demonstration of one of the Hindoo rules of arithmetic.
See Also
- Tafazzul Husain Kashmiri
- James Dinwiddie
