George WashingtonBorn 22 Feb 1732; died 14 Dec 1799 at age 67. American surveyor, military leader and president who was an eager student of mathematics in his youth, teaching himself geometry and trigonometry. This led to his early career as a surveyor, proficient at drafting, mapmaking, and designing tables of data. Surveying let him explore regions of Virgina, and earn income to be a landowner by age 19. Mathematics courses in early American education included applications in surveying. For example, it was part of state law in Massachusetts (1827) that any locality with 500 families should have a master capable of instructing “geometry, surveying and algebra.” Thus, long before that law, in a less-known aspect of his life, Washington was equipped with a technical education of service to his community—although he is most famous for fighting in the Revolutionary war and becoming the the first President of the U.S.A.« |
