Benjamin West (astronomer)

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For other persons named Benjamin West, see Benjamin West (disambiguation).
Benjamin West
Born March 1730
Rehoboth, Massachusetts
Died August 26, 1813
Fields Astronomy

Benjamin West (March 1730–August 26, 1813) was an American astronomer and almanac publisher.

Born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, he was largely an autodidact. After a school he started in Providence, Rhode Island proved unprofitable, he worked as a store owner, then made clothes during the American Revolutionary War. He and Joseph Brown observed the transit of Venus on June 3, 1769, publishing An Account of the Observation of Venus upon the Sun the Third Day of June 1769. He observed a comet in July of 1770, the same year he earned honorary degrees from Harvard University and Rhode Island College. He also earned an honorary degree from Dartmouth College in 1772.

The publication of An Almanack, for the year of our Lord Christ, 1763 In 1781 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and began teaching as a professor after 1786.

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