John Napier (1550-1617)



Statue of John Napier (1550-1617)

Copy of a Victorian representation found on the exterior of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. Plaster. Height 105cm, maximun width 40cm.

John Napier began his formal education at St Salvator's College in St Andrews in 1563 while Scotland was under the rule of the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots. Her arrival from France two years previously had exacerbated political and religious divisions in the country. John Napier, growing up in a Protestant family, would have been well aware of the theological conflicts of the day. He is thought to have spent only a year at St Andrews but throughout his life his aim was the advancement of the Calvinist cause against the `blindnesse of papists.'

A Plaine Discovery of the Revelation of St John, published in 1593, was the result of the application of mathematical principles to the numbers scattered throughout the text of the Book of Revelations. Napier claimed to reveal its hidden meanings, including the exact year of the Apocalypse and the conclusion that the Pope was the antichrist. This work established him as a respected theologian throughout Protestant Europe and he considered it to be his greatest achievement.

Safe in the knowledge that the world did not end in 1786, as he predicted, Napier is now more commonly remembered for the mathematical work he carried out later in his life.

In the late 16th century advances in astronomy were hampered by laborious calculations. Napier set out to solve this problem. He described the motivation for years of study that finally resulted in the invention of Logarithms: `there is nothing . . . that is so troublesome to mathematical practice. . . than the multiplications, divisions, square and cubical extractions of great numbers, . . . I began therefore to consider in my mind by what certain and ready art I might remove these hindrances. . .'(From the authors preface to A Description of the Admirable Table of Logarithms , first published in 1616.)

Napier's book revolutionised mathematics and astronomy. The log tables allowed complex calculations to be carried out by simple processes of addition, subtraction and division. The relevance of his discovery was immediately recognised by other mathematicians and astronomers. Napier's Logs directly aided the work of Johannes Kelper (1571-1630) who was developing his theory of the Solar System, and also indirectly influenced the work of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in his work on the theory of gravity.

Napier also invented an ingenious calculating tool which allowed speedy calculations. Napier's Bones, as these numbered rods became known, were revealed to the world in 1617 with the posthumous publication of his treatise, Rabdologie. The `bones' were in common use for at least 200 years after Napier's death in 1617. Napier's contribution to mathematics and science is universally acknowledged but in recent years his `bones' have finally been put to rest as computers and calculators have replaced the use of log tables in everyday mathematical calculation.

Return to contents page

9 May 1996