Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838)

valuable handbook navigation, oceanography and meteorology, and contains useful tables and a maritime glossary (“The New Practical Navigator” first published in 1802) Bowditch was extensively revised between 1946 and 1958. It was Nathaniel Bowditch’s original intention "to put down in the book nothing I can’t teach the crew." To this end, many complex formulas and equations have been eliminated, and emphasis placed on the capabilities and limitations of various navigation systems and show more how to use them, instead of explaining complex technical and theoretical details. show less

'I thank you, Sir, for your highly scientific pamphlet on the motion of the Pendulum, and more particularly for that containing the deductions of longitudes of places in the United States, from the Solar eclipse of 1811. That of Monticello is especially acceptable, having too long lost familiarity with such operations to have undertaken it myself. Mr Lambert of Washington had also favored me with his calculation, which varied minutely only from your's; he having, from the same elements, made show more the Longitude of Monticello 78º 50' 18.877" W. from Greenwich. I am happy indeed to find that this most sublime of all sciences is so eminently cultivated by you, and that our Rittenhouse was not the only meteor of the hemisphere in which he lived.'—Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Bowditch, May 2, 1815 show less