Edmund Gunter was responsible for introducing the words cosine and cotangent to the world as well as producing a seven figure table of logarithms of sines and tangents. Gunter also manufactured and used a precursor of the slide rule, called the Gunter scale. As if this were not enough Gunter also invented a device called Gunter's chain which was used for surveying, he published a work on navigation, studied magnetic declination and was the first to observe the secular variation. Whilst not one of the most original mathematicians Gunter had a very applied mind, and he contributed a number of practical uses for mathematical techniques and devices.

Gunter was born in Hertfordshire in Southern England in 1581. He attended Westminster School in London as a child and then carried on his education at Christ Church in Oxford where he remained until 1615. Gunter graduated initially in 1603 with a bachelors degree...