Mathematicians
John Napier
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John Napier (1550-1617) was a Scottish landowner and mathematician best known as the discoverer of logarithms, published in 1614 in his Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio. His new method let astronomers and navigators replace laborious multiplication and division with simple addition and subtraction, and it spread quickly across Europe. Napier also invented Napier's bones, a manual calculating device, devised formulas for solving spherical triangles known as Napier's analogies, and helped popularize the decimal point as a separator between the whole and fractional parts of a number. Priority for the underlying idea of logarithms is genuinely contested: the Swiss instrument maker Jost Burgi had independently developed a functionally similar table of progressions by around 1600, using a distinct method, but did not publish it until 1620, six years after Napier's book had already circulated through Europe.
Facts
BirthplaceMerchiston Castle, Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland 1 Death PlaceEdinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland 1 Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionImproved Simon Stevin's decimal notation by introducing the full stop as the delimiter between the whole and fractional parts of a number. 1 Defining ContributionInvented Napier's bones, a set of numbered rods for mechanically carrying out multiplication and division, and devised Napier's analogies for solving spherical triangles. 2 Defining ContributionThe Swiss instrument maker Jost Burgi had independently constructed a table of progressions serving the same computational purpose, by a distinct method, around 1600, but published it only in 1620 at Johannes Kepler's urging, six years after Napier. 3 Notable WorkMirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (1614) 1 Disputed
Defining ContributionDiscovered logarithms and published the first account of them in 1614 as Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, replacing laborious multiplication and division in astronomical and navigational calculation with addition and subtraction. 1 Napier's 1614 publication is conventionally credited as the origin of logarithms; see the dissent recorded against this fact for Jost Burgi's independent, later-published claim. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Logarithm, Concepts Why this is disputed. Napier published the first account of logarithms in 1614. Jost Burgi developed an independent, differently-derived table of progressions around 1600 but did not publish until 1620, so historians differ on how the underlying priority should be weighed even though Napier's earlier publication is the one conventionally credited.
Sources
1. John Napier (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, Mathematics sectionQuote, Lead section, Mathematics section
Napier is best known as the discoverer of logarithms.
1. John Napier (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfoboxQuote, Infobox
Died 4 April 1617(1617-04-04) (aged 67) Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland
1. John Napier (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationMathematics sectionQuote, Mathematics section
Napier improved Simon Stevin's decimal notation, introducing the full stop (.) as the delimiter for the fractional part.
1. John Napier (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfobox, birth date lineQuote, Infobox, birth date line
Born (1550-02-01)1 February 1550 Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland
2. John Napier, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St AndrewsLater life sectionView the Source 3. Jost Burgi (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationBurgi as a mathematician sectionQuote, Burgi as a mathematician section
Burgi constructed a table of progressions of what are now understood as antilogarithms (exponential functions) independently of John Napier, through a method distinct from Napier's.
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Defining Contribution
Jost Burgi, a Swiss instrument and clock maker, had independently constructed a table of progressions functioning as antilogarithms by around 1600, using a method distinct from Napier's, before Napier's own work was known to him. Because Burgi did not publish his method (Arithmetische und geometrische Progress-Tabulen) until 1620, six years after Napier's 1614 Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio had already circulated through Europe, conventional accounts credit Napier as the discoverer of logarithms. Some historians of mathematics hold that Burgi's work, completed independently and arguably earlier, deserves to be weighed alongside Napier's in any account of who first discovered logarithms, rather than treating Napier's priority as settled.
A dissenting reading, from Historians crediting Jost Burgi's independent priorityJost Burgi (Wikipedia), Wikimedia Foundation
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