Benjamin Banneker: Astronomer and Scientist

by Margaret Goff Clark

Depicts the life and times of an eighteenth-century black scientist, who made significant contributions to the fields of astronomy and agronomy

96 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1971

About the author

Margaret Goff Clark was born March 7, 1913, in Oklahoma City, USA. At five, she and her family moved to Olean, New York. She attended Columbia University and State University in Buffalo, earning a bachelor’s degree in education. She began writing when her children were young and published her first book, The Mystery Of Seneca Hill in 1961. As a result, Ms. Clark was adopted into the Seneca Indian tribe in 1962.
Many of her books are based on her experiences traveling to parks and nature areas by camping trailer. The Clarks had a cottage in Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada, and Death At Their Heels was written in 1975, after visiting it one summer. Most recently, Ms. Clark wrote books about endangered species in Florida, including the manatee and the Florida black bear. Her 1993 book on the endangered Florida panther was dedicated to her husband Charles R. Clark. In addition to books, Ms. Clark contributed over 200 short stories to magazines such as American Girl, The Instructor, Teen Talk and other Canadian and American magazines. Margaret Goff Clark passed away in 2003.

Reviews

[Sarah Huebner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Love the style of the story, engaging!

[Nicole S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

He was a brilliant free Black man. He was an astronomer and scientist. He had a white granmother named Molly Banneker. He was born November 9, 1731. Ben's family were an agraian people who bought a small farm in Maryland. He taught himself to play the flute, violin and make wooden clocks. He studied bees and wrote a paper about their habits. He worked on the almanac for the year 1791 to figure out the phases of the moon, the times for the rise and fall of the tiedes and positions of the planets. He surveyed the federal city, Washington, DC. He was a distinguished man who had served in the Maryland Senate and had been a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He later became secretary of war under President Adams.