-
Essay / John Napier, a famous Scottish mathematician
John Napier or John Neper was a Scottish mathematician born on 1 February 1550. He was born at Merchiston Tower near Merchiston Castle, an independent school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was Sir Archibald Napier and his mother was Janet Bothwell. As a young boy, at the age of thirteen, he received an early education at home from private tutors. He went to the University of St. Andrews, where he developed an interest in theology. He also had a lifelong love of religion. He stayed only a short time at St. Andrews and left without a degree. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Little is known about Napier's early life and how he progressed in his mathematics education. Rumor has it that when he was a young adult, he traveled to continental Europe to further his education. He made this trip because he followed his grandfather's advice. Some say he studied at the University of Paris and spent his free time in Italy and the Netherlands. After completing his studies, he returned to Scotland at the age of twenty-one in 1571. John's first marriage was in 1572 to Elizabeth Stirling, the daughter of James Stirling, the 4th Laird of Keir and Cadder. Together they had two children. His wife died in 1579 and he married Agnes Chisholm shortly afterwards. He had ten children with her, giving him a total of 12 children. Since he was considered an adult, most of his family assets were transferred to him. In 1574 he built a castle at Gartness. He then focused on managing the areas entrusted to him. Alongside the management of his fields, he gets involved in mathematical research when he has time. His life was spent in harsh religious disputes. He was a passionate and faithful Protestant. When dealing with the Church of Rome, he neither wanted money nor gave it. He was constantly involved in religious controversies which delayed his scientific activities. He published "Plain Discovery of the Whole Revelation of Saint John" in 1594. It is suspected that Napier sought the assistance of Philip II in having James VI of Scotland succeed Elizabeth I to the English throne. Napier was closely associated with the Scottish Church and implored James to effectively bring the Church closer to the Roman Catholics. John was a member of a committee appointed to make representations to the king concerning the welfare of the Church. He told the king that “justice be done against the enemies of the Church of God.” In January 1594, Napier showed the king a letter which bears the dedication of his Plain Discovery of the whole Revelation of Saint John. It was a work intended to assist contemporary events. It was a religious work written to influence the political events of that time. When his father died in 1608, John moved to Merchiston Castle with his family and settled there for the rest of his life. . In 1614, he spoke about logarithms in a text entitled “Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio”. This was published for the first time in Latin. Two years later, a man named Edward Wright translated and published the work in English. The book contained 57 pages of explanations and 90 pages of number tables related to natural and regular logarithms. He discussed the theorems of spherical trigonometry. This later became known as Napier's rules for circular parts. He gained much honor and respect for creating logarithms. The English mathematician Henry Briggs visited Napier in 1615 and they worked together on the.