Thomas Fuller (1710 – December 1790), also known as "''Negro Tom''" and the "''Virginia Calculator''", was an enslaved African renowned for his mathematical abilities.

W. W. Rouse Ball Walter William Rouse Ball (14 August 1850 – 4 April 1925), known as W. W. Rouse Ball, was a British mathematician, lawyer, and fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1878 to 1905. He was also a keen amateur magician, and the founding ...

(1960) ''Calculating Prodigies'', in Mathematical Recreations and Essays, Macmillan, New York, chapter 13.

History

Born in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

somewhere between present-day

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

and

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

, Fuller was enslaved and shipped to America in 1724 at the age of 14, eventually becoming the legal property of Presley and Elizabeth Cox of

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

. Fuller was illiterate. The Coxes enslaved 16 people, and appeared to value Fuller the most; he expressed gratitude for not being sold.A wizard in any age
''Christian Science Monitor'', February 12, 1980 Stories of his abilities abounded through the Eastern seaboard. His skill was even used as a demonstration that blacks were not mentally inferior to whites.

Documentation of abilities

When Fuller was about 70 years old, William Hartshorne and Samuel Coates of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

were in Alexandria and, having heard of Fuller's powers, sent for him. They asked him two questions which satisfied their curiosity. First, when they asked him how many seconds there were in a year and a half, he answered each question in turn in about two minutes, 47,304,000. Second, when they asked how many seconds a man has lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old, he answered in a minute and a half 2,210,500,800. One of the men was working out the problems on paper, and informed Fuller that his answer was too high. Fuller hastily replied, "'Top, massa, you forget de

leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or s ...

." When the leap year was added in, the sums matched.''Account of a wonderful talent for arithmetical calculation, in an African slave, living in Virginia.''
In: The American Museum: Or, Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces, etc. Prose and Poetical. Vol. 5 (1789), p. 62-63. Despite Fuller's perfect answers, it appeared to Hartshorne and Coates that his mental abilities must have once been greater. They wrote:

He was grey-headed, and exhibited several other marks of the weakness of old age. He had worked hard upon a farm during the whole of life but had never been intemperate in the use of spirituous liquors. He spoke with great respect of his mistress, and mentioned in a particular manner his obligations to her for refusing to sell him, which she had been tempted to by offers of large sums of money from several persons. One of the gentlemen, Mr. Coates, having remarked in his presence that it was a pity he had not an education equal to his genius, he said, "No,
Massa Massa may refer to: Places *Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara. *Massa (river), river in Switzerland * Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...
, it is best I had no learning, for many learned men be great fools."

References

External links

*
How an enslaved African math genius topped white people with his intellect
Nathaniel Crabbe,

MSN MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Thomas 18th-century American slaves African-American people Mental calculators 1710 births 1790 deaths 18th-century African people