SHARP, Abraham, a celebrated English mathe matician and astronomer, was born in 1651, at Lit tle Norton, near Bradford. Having been apprenticed to a merchant in Manchester, lie devoted all his lei sure to mathematics, and acquired such a passion for them, that, with the consent of his master, he aban doned his profession, and went to Liverpool to pur sue his mathematical studies.
Having heard of Sharp's mathematical acquire ments, a London merchant, in whose house the cele brated astronomer Flamstead resided, engaged him to keep his books. In this situation our author ac quired the friendship of Flamstead, through whose influence he obtained a lucrative situation in the dock yard at Chatham. Mr. Sharp's talents. horn ever, were of too high an order to he thrown away upon such an occupation, and Mr. Flarnstead accordingly took him as his own assistant. Having a great me chanical genius, he was employed in the construction of the mural sextant, 6 feet radius, which he finished in 1689, in the course of 14 months, to the entire sa tisfaction of Mr. Flamstead. See our article GRADUA TION.
While in this situation Mr. Sharp assisted the as tronomer royal in writing the celebrated catalogue of 3000 fixed stars; but owing to the fatigue of nightly observation, and to the weak state of his constitution, his health was greatly impaired, and he retired to his house at Norton.
When he had sufficiently recovered from his indis position, he fitted up an observatory of his own, and furnished it with telescopes, the lenses of which he ground and adjusted with his own hand.
Our author likewise assisted Flamstead in comput ing most of the tables in the second volume of the Historia Celestis, and he executed fine drawings of the constellations which were sent to Amsterdam to be engraved, but though done by the hand of a master, the originals are said to have far exceeded them in minuteness and beauty.
In the year 1717, Mr. Sharp published a work en titled Geometry improved, illustrated with a variety of copperplates, neatly engraved by his own hands. This work contained, 1. A large table of segments of circles, with the method of its construction and its uses in the solution of various different problems, and 2. A concise treatise of Polyedra or solid bodies of many bases.
Mr. Sharp was never married, he spent his life in a recluse manner, and exhibited many singularities which it would be out of place here to record. He died on the 18th of July 1742, in the 91st year of his age. See the General Biography, and Hutton's Dictionary, for farther information.