Orson Pratt (1811-1881) was an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; at 24, he was the youngest member of the original Quorum of the Twelve. Had he not been briefly dropped from the Twelve in the winter of 1842/1843, he would have succeeded Brigham Young as President of the Church.

Pratt was a genuine polymath, with major writings on theology, astronomy, and mathematics. He supervised the work of transcribing the Book of Mormon to the Deseret Alphabet and is responsible for our current chapter-verse divisions in the Book of Mormon. He wrote numerous pamphlets that...