John Napier
For other people with the same name, see John Napier (disambiguation). John Napier or
Neper, nicknamed
Marvellous Merchiston (
1550–
April 4,
1617) was a
Scottish mathematician,
physicist,
astronomer/
astrologer and eighth
Laird of Merchiston. He is most remembered as the inventor of
logarithms and
Napier's bones, and for popularizing the use of the
decimal point. Napier's birth place,
Merchiston Tower,
Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of
Napier University.
Napier is relatively little-known outside mathematical and engineering circles, where he made what is undoubtedly a key advance in the use of mathematics.
Logarithms made calculations by hand much easier and quicker, and thereby opened the way to many later scientific advances. His work,
Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, contained thirty-seven pages of explanatory matter and ninety pages of tables, which facilitated the furtherment of
astronomy,
dynamics,
physics, and
astrology.
Napier's powers of invention were not confined to logarithms. He published a small treatise on a simple way to perform
multiplication, the
Rabdologiae, introducing a
calculating device which became known as Napier's Rods or
Napier's Bones. In an appendix he explained another method of multiplication and
division using metal plates, which was the direct antecedant of the
slide rule, a mechanical means of calculation.
Another useful idea of his is Neper/Napier's circle (sometimes called Neper/Napier's pentagon), a
mnemonic for
spherical trigonometry.
A number of "secret inventions" were described by his contemporaries, including a round chariot that was an early version of a
tank, giant mirrors which could burn the sails of enemy ships, a
submarine, and an
artillery piece that could apparently destroy a whole field of soldiers. He is also believed to have one of the first inventions of the machine gun, testing it on a herd of sheep.
Napier used some of his mathematical talents for
theology, as he used the
Book of Revelation to predict the
Apocalypse. Napier believed that the end of the world would occur in 1688 or 1700. He is also sometimes claimed to have been a
necromancer; however, it was common for scientifically talented people of the period to be accused of such things without basis.
He is buried in St Cuthbert's Church,
Edinburgh. He was the father of
Robert Napier.
A very little-used unit used in
electrical engineering, the
neper, is named after John Napier, as is
Napier University in Edinburgh.
Neper crater, on the
Moon, is also named after him.
*
List of universities named after people*
*
Explanation of Napier's Bones*
Short biography and translation of work on logarithms*
Intro to Spherical Trig. Includes discussion of The Napier circle and Napier's rules
*
New Scotsman article* (1614) Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio
* (1617) Rhabdologia
