When establishing Harvard in 1636, the governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony sought to create a college on the classical model they had known in England. Harvard’s earliest curriculum was comprised of lectures and recitations that familiarized students with Aristotelian cosmology. Mathematics, physics, and astronomy were imparted by referring to instruments such as the astrolabe, armillary sphere, and globes. By the mid-seventeenth century, tutors introduced the new ideas of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes.
The economy and defense of the fast-growing Colony was dependent especially on the mathematical arts of navigation and surveying. Without navigation in coastal and trans-Atlantic waters, the colony could not export timber, salted fish, rum, or ships in exchange for finished goods. Surveying was needed to map the wilderness, establish boundaries between colonies, build forts, and lay out plots of land. Records from the time show Harvard students were taught how to use the instruments of surveying and navigation, to make sundials, and perform complex calculations. Graduates were thereby well suited to take part in the commercial, political, and social life of the eventual Commonwealth.
A Selection of Instruments in "Colonial Science"
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |