Benjamin West (March 1730 – August 26, 1813) was an American astronomer, mathematician, professor, and author of almanacs. Life and work Born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, Benjamin West was largely an autodidact. After a school he started in Providence, Rhode Island about 1753 proved unprofitable, he opened a dry-goods store and added what is thought to have been the first bookstore in Providence. He closed his store and made clothes for soldiers during the American Revolutionary War. Immediately after the war West opened another school in Providence and then taught at Philadelphia's new Protestant Episcopal Academy from 1787 to 1788. In 1786 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Rhode Island College (now known as Brown University), and assumed this position in 1788. He taught mathematics and astronomy at Rhode Island College until 1799. Upon leaving Rhode Island College West moved to Newport to start a school of navigation in his home. From 1802 until his death in 1813 he was postmaster of Providence. He was apparently able to read French, as he referred often to a French text on astronomy. Benjamin West was a member of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. Achievements in Astronomy and Mathematics On April 10, 1766, Benjamin West wrote John Winthrop, then the president of Cambridge College (now known as Harvard College) about a comet he had observed the night before. His ensuing communications with Winthrop brought him to the attention of other men of science. As part of a major international scientific effort, West 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. The observation was conducted from a platform on the east side of Providence. The street has since been named Transit Street in honor of the event. His work on the transit was so respected that he was made an honorary member of the American Philosophical Society and received an honorary Master of Arts from Cambridge College. His published observations of the 1769 transits of Venus and Mercury came to the attention of astronomers in both colonial America and England and were brought to the attention of the Royal Society of London. He observed Lexell's Comet in July 1770 and corresponded again with Winthrop and other astronomers. His observations contributed to the development of the theory regarding the