John Napier 4

John Napier was a Scottish Mathematician who was born in Merchiston Castle in

Edinburgh in the year 1550. He briefly attended St. Andrew's University, but for some

unknown reason, left without obtaining a degree, which didn't seem to have any relevance

to him. He returned home in 1571 as a scholar competent in Greek. He was a ardent

Presbyterian who wrote A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of Saint John, the

first Scottish interpretation of the bible, in 1593 to demonstrate that the Catholic Church

was the beast. He was interested in mathematics at an early age and set forth the concept

of logarithms and published the first table of them. While doing this, he also systematized

trigonometry and was important in the acceptance of systematic use of decimal notation.

He also invented many mechanical devices used for math, such as "Napier's Bones", which

were devices used to aid multiplication. His father, Sir Archibald Napier, was a wealthy

Gentry and government official who left his estate to his son. John Napier then lived out

his life until 1617, when he died at the age of sixty-seven.