Thomas Hariot

Thomas Hariot (1560-1621) was an English mathematician and astronomer, who accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh on his expedition to Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. His account of the voyage, Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, was published in 1588. The Report contains an early account of the Native American population encountered by the expedition: its prejudicial attitudes were to influence later English explorers and colonists. He wrote: "Whereby it may be hoped, if means of good government be used, that they may in short time be brought to civility and the embracing of true religion."

As scientific adviser during the voyage, Hariot was asked by Raleigh to find the most efficient way to stack cannon balls on the deck of the ship. His ensuing theories formed an early predecessor of later atomic theory. His correspondence with Johannes Kepler, in which he described some of his ideas, later influenced Kepler's conjecture.