Thomas Harriot (c. 1560 – 2 July 1621) was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland. Harriot was the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope, on July 26, 1609, over four months before Galileo.
After graduating from Oxford University, Harriot trave...
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Thomas Harriot (c. 1560 – 2 July 1621) was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland. Harriot was the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope, on July 26, 1609, over four months before Galileo.
After graduating from Oxford University, Harriot traveled to the Americas on an expedition funded by Raleigh, and on his return he worked for the 9th Earl of Northumberland. At the Earl's house, he became a prolific mathematician and astronomer to whom the theory of refraction is attributed.
Born in 1560 in Oxford, England, Thomas Harriot attended St Mary Hall, Oxford. His name appears in the school's registry dating from 1577. After his graduation from Oxford (in 1580), Harriot was first hired by Sir Walter Raleigh as a mathematics tutor; he used his knowledge of astronomy/astrology to provide...
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