Benjamin Peirce
Benjamin Peirce ForMemRS HonFRSE (/ˈpɜːrs/;[1] April 4, 1809 – October 6, 1880) was an American mathematician who taught at Harvard University for approximately 50 years. He made contributions to celestial mechanics, statistics, number theory, algebra, and the philosophy of mathematics.
For his father, the Harvard librarian, see Benjamin Peirce (librarian). For the U.S. Coast Survey ship, see USCS Benjamin Peirce.
Benjamin Peirce
April 4, 1809
October 6, 1880 (aged 71)
Sarah Hunt Mills
- Benjamin Peirce (father)
- Peirce's criterion for outliers (statistics)
- Definition of mathematics as the science of necessary truths
- linear algebras
- celestial mechanics
- Mathematics
- statistics
- science policy
Harvard University
Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey
Early life[edit]
He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the son of first cousins Benjamin Peirce (1778–1831), later librarian of Harvard, and Lydia Ropes Nichols Peirce (1781–1868).[2]
After graduating from Harvard University in 1829, he taught mathematics for two years at the Round Hill School in Northampton, and in 1831 was appointed professor of mathematics at Harvard. He added astronomy to his portfolio in 1842, and remained as Harvard professor until his death. In addition, he was instrumental in the development of Harvard's science curriculum, served as the college librarian, and was director of the United States Coast Survey from 1867 to 1874.
In 1842, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[3] He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London in 1852.[4]
He was devoutly religious, though he seldom published his theological thoughts.[10] Peirce credited God as shaping nature in ways that account for the efficacy of pure mathematics in describing empirical phenomena.[11] Peirce viewed "mathematics as study of God's work by God's creatures", according to an encyclopedia.[10] He was an avid juggler of diabolo and wrote about the physics of the game in Analytic Mechanics.[12]
He married Sarah Hunt Mills, the daughter of U.S. Senator Elijah Hunt Mills.[13] Peirce and his wife had four sons and one daughter:[14]
Eponyms[edit]
The lunar crater Peirce is named for Peirce, as well as the asteroid 29463 Benjaminpeirce.
Post-doctoral positions in Harvard University's mathematics department are named in his honor as Benjamin Peirce Fellows and Lecturers.
The United States Coast Survey ship USCS Benjamin Peirce, in commission from 1855 to 1868, was named for him.[15]