BENJAMIN BANNEKER

INVENTORS

Benjamin Banneker was born in Maryland on November 9, 1731. His fther and grandfather were former slaves. Banneker died on October 9, 1806. In 1980, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his honor.

At age 58, Banneker began the study of astronomy and was soon predicting future solar and lunar eclipes. He compiled the ephemeris, or information table, for annual almanacs that were published for the years 1792 through 1797.