How to Communicate by John Lee Clark

Author:John Lee Clark [Clark, John Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2022-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

Nicholas Saunderson

1682–1739

We are in the cemetery of St. John the Baptist Church

Can you feel what it says on this tombstone

That’s right

That’s how Nicholas Saunderson learned to read as a boy

There was no Braille back then you know

But he did go to Penistone Free School where he was allowed to listen in

Then he somehow ended up at Christ’s College Cambridge

He wasn’t a real student but he managed to stay around

One day William Whiston who was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics said you know my father was blind too and he preached just fine so why don’t you give this lectern a try

So Nicholas Saunderson began to deliver lectures

Mathematics astronomy natural history and yes optics

He made a calculating machine with strings and pins and called it Palpable Arithmetic

In 1710 there was an uproar because William Whiston said Christ was subordinate to God

They kicked him out

Now they needed a new professor and they wanted Nicholas Saunderson

But he didn’t have a degree

Sir Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley said no problem and they told Queen Anne to award him a Master of Arts degree

The next day Nicholas Saunderson was named the fourth Lucasian Professor of Mathematics

He bought a house got married had two kids joined the Royal Academy and astounded visitors by doing blind stuff just like I’m doing now

Here put your hands on this spire

It was erected as a memorial to him

Go on feel what it says

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