John Shirley papers related to Thomas Harriot

Thomas Harriot

Few facts are known about the early years of British astronomer, mathematician, and scientist Thomas Harriot (1560–1621). Harriot graduated from St. Mary’s, Oxford, with a B. A. on February 12, 1580. Shortly thereafter, he became acquainted with Sir Walter Raleigh, who was his friend until Raleigh’s death forty years later. Harriot accompanied the famed party sent by Raleigh to colonize Virginia (present-day North Carolina) in 1585, acting as surveyor, cartographer, and scientific advisor. Upon his return to England, he published his Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588) and was introduced to the Earl of Northumberland. Impressed by Harriot’s talents, Northumberland offered Harriot a pension double that of other men, such as the geographer Robert Hues and the mathematician Walter Warner, under his patronage. Financially supported for many decades by both Northumberland and his friend Raleigh, Harriot was thus able to devote himself to a lifetime of study and research.

During the 1590s and early 1600s, Harriot pursued his study of optics. He was the first Englishman to make a telescope, and it has been debated whether he or Galileo should be credited with the invention. His discoveries in the field of mathematics were no less monumental. The founder of the English school of algebra, Harriot was the first mathematician to set an equation equal to zero and then factor it; he created modern algebraic symbols such as “greater than” and “less than” signs; and was the first to explore the potential of binary numeration. Harriot’s other studies included navigation and physics. He discovered the sine law of refraction, which explains the bending of light, some twenty years before Willebrord Snell, to whom the achievement was credited.

Through his accomplishments, Harriot became one of the most well-known and highly respected intellectuals of his time. He knew and influenced many of the great literary and scientific minds of the period, such as Raleigh and Christopher Marlowe in England, and Johann Kepler in Germany, yet his own influence has been obscured by that of his contemporaries. His death on July 2, 1621 marked the end of the career of a true Renaissance man, forgotten until recent decades.

Thomas Harriot

Few facts are known about the early years of British astronomer, mathematician, and scientist Thomas Harriot (1560–1621). Harriot graduated from St. Mary’s, Oxford, with a B. A. on February 12, 1580. Shortly thereafter, he became acquainted with Sir Walter Raleigh, who was his friend until Raleigh’s death forty years later. Harriot accompanied the famed party sent by Raleigh to colonize Virginia (present-day North Carolina) in 1585, acting as surveyor, cartographer, and scientific advisor. Upon his return to England, he published his Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588) and was introduced to the Earl of Northumberland. Impressed by Harriot’s talents, Northumberland offered Harriot a pension double that of other men, such as the geographer Robert Hues and the mathematician Walter Warner, under his patronage. Financially supported for many decades by both Northumberland and his friend Raleigh, Harriot was thus able to devote himself to a lifetime of study and research.

During the 1590s and early 1600s, Harriot pursued his study of optics. He was the first Englishman to make a telescope, and it has been debated whether he or Galileo should be credited with the invention. His discoveries in the field of mathematics were no less monumental. The founder of the English school of algebra, Harriot was the first mathematician to set an equation equal to zero and then factor it; he created modern algebraic symbols such as “greater than” and “less than” signs; and was the first to explore the potential of binary numeration. Harriot’s other studies included navigation and physics. He discovered the sine law of refraction, which explains the bending of light, some twenty years before Willebrord Snell, to whom the achievement was credited.

Through his accomplishments, Harriot became one of the most well-known and highly respected intellectuals of his time. He knew and influenced many of the great literary and scientific minds of the period, such as Raleigh and Christopher Marlowe in England, and Johann Kepler in Germany, yet his own influence has been obscured by that of his contemporaries. His death on July 2, 1621 marked the end of the career of a true Renaissance man, forgotten until recent decades.

John Shirley

American educator and author John Shirley (1908–1988), internationally recognized as one of the few authorities on Thomas Harriot, was directly responsible for elevating Harriot’s status in history. Shirley, a native of Swea City, Iowa, graduated with honors from the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in literature and physics, and later a doctorate in literature and philosophy. He taught English at Michigan State University and in 1949 was appointed dean of liberal arts at North Carolina State University before becoming provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Delaware in 1962. He served as acting president of the University from 1967–1968, and in 1972 he was named H. Fletcher Brown Research Professor in the History of Science. In recognition of his significant contributions to scholarship, the University awarded him its highest award, the Medal of Distinction, in 1982.

Shirley began his studies of Thomas Harriot during his John Simons Guggenheim Fellowship in 1947, during which time he researched Harriot’s unpublished manuscripts. Once Shirley had located all of the known manuscripts, many of which had been neglected for over a century, he then spent decades examining and evaluating them. The result of his research includes several works on Harriot such as the first Harriot biography, Thomas Harriot: A Biography (1983). He also published Scholarly Publishing at the University of Delaware (1975) and Sir Walter Raleigh and the New World (1985). Shirley died at the age of 80, while on vacation in San Antonio, Texas, in 1988.