Nathaniel Bowditch and the Power of Numbers: How a nineteenth-century man of business, science, and the sea changed American life

摘要

For maritime historians, Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) is perhaps best known as the author of the New American Practical Navigator, originally billed as the 'epitome of navigation', which is still published (now without New in its title) and freely available online from the US government. As Tamara Plakins Thornton shows in a more rounded biography than previous accounts have offered, however, is that Bowditch was not just a seafarer and navigator, but a mathematician and businessman whose work helped shape nineteenth-century American capitalism.