BLACK :rare haplogroups

Unknown Member · 2022-12-13T21:56:31-06:00

Thomas FULLER was an African, shipped to America as a slave in 1724. He had remarkable powers of calculation, and late in his life was discovered by antislavery campaigners who used him as a demonstration that blacks are not mentally inferior to whites.FULLER, known as the Virginia Calculator, was stolen from his native Africa at the age of fourteen and sold to a planter. When he was about seventy years old, two gentlemen, natives of Pennsylvania, William Hartshorne and Samuel Coates, heard of his extraordinary powers in arithmetic, sent for him and had their curiosity sufficiently gratified by the answers which he gave to the following questions: First, He was asked how many seconds there were in a year and a half, he answered in about two minutes, 47 304 000. He was asked next, how many seconds a man has lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old, he answered in a minute and a half 2,210,500,800. One of the gentlemen who was also doing these calculations told him he was wrong, and the sum was lower than he had said. John hastily replied, " Stop, master, you forget the leap year.". On adding the amount of the seconds of the leap years, the amount of the whole in both their sums agreed exactly.Another question was asked and satisfactorily answered. Before two other gentlemen he gave the amount of nine figures multiplied by nine. ...He died in 1790 at the age of 80, having never learned to read or write in spite of his extraordinary power of calculation.Sources:mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Fuller_Thomas/

Thomas Fuller, an African-born slave and human calculator.

BLACK :rare haplogroups

Thomas Fuller, an African-born slave and human calculator.

Posted by George Edward FREENEY Jr. on December 13, 2022 at 9:56 pm
Thomas FULLER was an African, shipped to America as a slave in 1724. He had remarkable powers of calculation, and late in his life was discovered by antislavery campaigners who used him as a demonstration that blacks are not mentally inferior to whites.

FULLER, known as the Virginia Calculator, was stolen from his native Africa at the age of fourteen and sold to a planter. When he was about seventy years old, two gentlemen, natives of Pennsylvania, William Hartshorne and Samuel Coates, heard of his extraordinary powers in arithmetic, sent for him and had their curiosity sufficiently gratified by the answers which he gave to the following questions:

First, He was asked how many seconds there were in a year and a half, he answered in about two minutes, 47 304 000.

He was asked next, how many seconds a man has lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old, he answered in a minute and a half 2,210,500,800. One of the gentlemen who was also doing these calculations told him he was wrong, and the sum was lower than he had said. John hastily replied, ” Stop, master, you forget the leap year.”. On adding the amount of the seconds of the leap years, the amount of the whole in both their sums agreed exactly.

Another question was asked and satisfactorily answered. Before two other gentlemen he gave the amount of nine figures multiplied by nine. …He died in 1790 at the age of 80, having never learned to read or write in spite of his extraordinary power of calculation.

Sources:

mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Fuller_Thomas/
- This discussion was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by George Edward FREENEY Jr..
- This discussion was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by George Edward FREENEY Jr..
George Edward FREENEY Jr. replied 2 years, 4 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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Thomas Fuller, an African-born slave and human calculator.

Thomas Fuller, an African-born slave and human calculator.