All save the most intractable calculations were no match for his mind. Thomas Fuller, sometimes known as the "Virginia Calculator," was a mathematician and astronomer born in 1710 on the "Slave Coast" of West Africa, which is today the republic of Liberia and the Kingdom of Dahomey (present Benin) (current Benin). With such high demand for slaves, he was taken from his home and sold far away from his birthplace.
Back in 1724, when Fuller was just 14 years old, he was packed off to Colonial America. Fuller was uneducated and hence unable to read or write in English. On the other hand, he possessed a unique talent: for years, the colonists marveled at how quickly and precisely he could calculate. This was something he was capable of.
Through practice, he surely honed his ability to mentally calculate complex solutions. Blacks were no longer seen as being intellectually inferior to whites, and anti-slavery advocates used his talents to prove this point. Using this, they were able to gain more support for their cause.
A plantation farm run by Presley and Elizabeth Cox about four miles outside Alexandria, Virginia, depended significantly on Fuller's expertise. Northern Virginia is where Fuller had his farm. We must then inquire as to the source of Fuller's information.
most notably in an era when it was illegal to provide literate slaves with a formal education? He claims to have honed his abilities by conducting numerous experiments across the farm, such as determining the total amount of hairs on a cow's tail.
Fuller could perform mental computations that would typically require a computer. This belies the fact that most calculations of this magnitude are performed by computers. Around age 70, Fuller was introduced to a businessman who had sought out Fuller's Pennsylvania acquaintances for information.
They probed him with several questions on various topics. Many questions come to mind; one of the most common is "How many seconds were there in a year and a half?" How many milliseconds have elapsed in a person's life if they have lived for 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours?
While saying 47,304,000 and 2,210,500,800 in under a minute, one of the men objected. His own estimates, he noted, came in significantly lower. In less than a minute, he rattled off each digit.
When Massa forgot to add the summer year, Fuller retorted in a flash: "(Stop), Massa." After reviewing the results from the previous year, they concurred with Fuller's assessment.
Once they had time to prepare, they demonstrated Fuller's mathematical prowess to the Abolitionist. At Alexandria, Virginia, on the Cox farm, Fuller passed away in 1790. He reached the age of eighty