Benjamin Banneker was a self-educated scientist, astronomer, inventor, writer, and antislavery publicist. Banneker was one of the first African Americans to gain distinction in science.
In 1753, he built the first watch made in America, a wooden pocket watch. Twenty years later, Banneker began making astronomical calculations that enabled him to successfully forecast a 1789 solar eclipse. His estimate contradicted the predictions of better-known mathematicians and astronomers of the time.
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