born Oct. 6, 1735, Halifax, Yorkshire, Eng.

died Nov. 5, 1800, Brighton, Sussex

Ramsden was apprenticed as a boy to a cloth worker, but in 1758 he apprenticed himself to a mathematical instrument maker. He went into business for himself in London in 1762. He designed dividing engines of great accuracy for both circles and straight lines and produced highly accurate sextants, theodolites, and vertical circles for astronomical observatories. He also built barometers, manometers, assay balances, and other instruments. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1786 and awarded the Copley Medal in 1795.