1550-1617

Scottish Mathematician

In 1914, on the brink of World War I, the Royal Society of Edinburgh took time to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio, in which John Napier first presented his system of logarithms. Fifty years later, on the verge of the computer revolution, Napier University of Edinburgh was named in honor of Scotland's great mathematician—a man who, as a pioneer of logarithms and an inventor of an early calculator, helped make that revolution possible.

Members of the Scottish nobility, both Napier's father, Sir Archibald Napier, and his mother, Janet Bothwell, came from old and highly distinguished families. At the age of 13, Napier entered the University of St. Andrews, but did not complete his education; rather, he traveled in Europe for a time before returning to Scotland at age 21. In the following year, he married Elizabeth Stirling, with whom he had...