MATHEMATICIAN

John Napier

1550 - 1617

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John Napier of Merchiston ( NAY-pee-ər; Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. John Napier is best known as the discoverer of logarithms. He also invented the so-called "Napier's bones" and made common the use of the decimal point in arithmetic and mathematics. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. John Napier is the 40th most popular mathematician (down from 29th in 2019), the 195th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 90th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular British Mathematician.

John Napier is most famous for inventing logarithms. He was a Scottish mathematician who was born in 1550 and died in 1617.

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Among MATHEMATICIANS

Among mathematicians, John Napier ranks 40 out of 1,004. Before him are Niels Henrik Abel, Brahmagupta, Pope Sylvester II, Georg Cantor, Apollonius of Perga, and Augustin-Louis Cauchy. After him are Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet, Eudoxus of Cnidus, Johann Bernoulli, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Al-Battani, and Gottlob Frege.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1550, John Napier ranks 4. Before him are Charles IX of France, Safiye Sultan, and Willem Barentsz. After him are Charles IX of Sweden, John Davis, Do-Aklin, Henry I, Duke of Guise, Camillus de Lellis, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Jang-geum, and Stanislaus Kostka. Among people deceased in 1617, John Napier ranks 3. Before him are Pocahontas, and Ahmed I. After him are Francisco Suárez, Rose of Lima, Hendrik Goltzius, Emperor Go-Yōzei, Dorothea of Denmark, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, David Fabricius, Concino Concini, 4th Dalai Lama, and Fausto Veranzio.

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, John Napier ranks 195 out of 8,785. Before him are George Harrison (1943), Charles Glover Barkla (1877), William of Ockham (1285), Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (1771), Maggie Smith (1934), and Victoria, Princess Royal (1840). After him are Paul Dirac (1902), Robert Robinson (1886), Blackbeard (1680), Ian McKellen (1939), Eric Clapton (1945), and Cat Stevens (1948).

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Among MATHEMATICIANS In United Kingdom

Among mathematicians born in United Kingdom, John Napier ranks 3. Before him are Ada Lovelace (1815), and Bertrand Russell (1872). After him are George Boole (1815), Alfred North Whitehead (1861), John Couch Adams (1819), Thomas Harriot (1560), Frank P. Ramsey (1903), Joan Clarke (1917), John Wallis (1616), George Green (1793), and William Oughtred (1574).

British born Mathematicians

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