Truman Henry Safford
Deceased Person
1836 – 1901
Who was Truman Henry Safford?
Truman Henry Safford was an American calculating prodigy. In later life he was an observatory director.
He was born in Royalton, Vermont, USA on 6 January 1836. At an early age he attracted public attention by his remarkable calculation powers. At the age of nine, a local priest asked him to multiply 365,365,365,365,365,365 by itself. In less than a minute he gave the correct answer of 133,491,850,208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225 with no paper. At around this age he also developed a new rule for calculating the moon's risings and settings, taking one-quarter of the time of the existing method.
Unlike many other calculating prodigies, Safford did not give public exhibitions. He went to college and studied astronomy. He became the second director of the Hopkins Observatory at Williams College, the oldest extant astronomical observatory in the United States. He served as director of the Observatory until his death in 1901. The Safford Fund for Williams College student researchers was created by his descendants to honor him. A portrait of him as a child prodigy hangs in the Hopkins Observatory's Mehlin Museum of Astronomy, adjacent to the Milham Planetarium. His natural calculating abilities seemed to wane with age.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Jan 6, 1836
United States of America - Nationality
- United States of America
- Lived in
- Vermont
- Died
- Jun 13, 1901
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Truman Henry Safford." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/truman_henry_safford>.
Discuss this Truman Henry Safford biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In