John Napier essays

John Napier essays John Napier was born at Merchiston Castle near Edinburgh, Scotland in the year of 1550 and died in 1617. He was born into a family that had influential landed nobility. Johns mother was Janet Bothwell and his father Sir Archibald Napier, who was only sixteen years old when his son was born. When John was young, his education was stationed mostly at his house. However, he may have spent some time at the Edinburgh High School, and some little time studying in France. At the age of only thirteen, John was sent to St. Salvators College, which was in the University of St. Andrews. He studied mostly theology and philosophy there, but left without taking his degree. John built a castle at Gartnes, located on the banks of the Endrick, and then lived there with his wife, Elizabeth Stirling, which he married in 1572. Ironically, Elizabeths father was a Scottish mathematician. Elizabeth died in 1579 and so John later married Agnes Chisholm and conceived ten children and earlier had two with Elizabeth. Johns father died in 1608, so John and his family moved into Merchiston castle, which he inherited upon his fathers death. Napier lived here until he died. John was very interested in astronomy. He not only liked to look at the stars, but he did a lot of research on getting calculations of very large numbers. Napier thought there could be a simpler way to perform calculations that involved large numbers, so he spent twenty years trying to show his idea. Finally the logarithmic tables came into his mind. The word logarithm comes from the Greek words logos for expression and arithmos for number. Napier also has a claim as being the inventor of the first mechanical calculator, even though it was a wholly primitive kind of calculator. His discovery of logarithms first became known in 1614 when he wrote his book called A Description of the Wonderful...