john napier

English - English

Definition of john napier in English English dictionary

born 1550, Merchiston Castle, near Edinburgh, Scot. died April 4, 1617, Merchiston Castle Scottish mathematician and champion of Protestantism. He divided his life between attacks on the church of Rome and the pursuit of numerical calculations. On a number of occasions he urged James IV of Scotland to deal firmly with the Catholic threat. From 1594 he worked on developing secret weapons, including a metal chariot with small holes through which shot could be fired. He developed the concept of the logarithm to facilitate calculations involving multiplication, division, roots, and powers. He also introduced the decimal point as a notation for decimal fractions. The set of calculating rods he designed was a precursor to the slide rule

Related Terms

Frederic John Napier Thesiger 1st Viscount Chelmsford

born Aug. 12, 1868, London, Eng. died April 1, 1933, London English colonial administrator. In 1905 he was appointed governor of Queensland, Austl., and in 1909 of New South Wales. He left Australia in 1913 to serve in India as a captain in the Dorsetshire regiment. As viceroy of India in a time of surging Indian nationalism (1916-21), he helped to institute reforms increasing Indian representation in government but provoked opposition by his severe measures against nationalists

Frederic John Napier Thesiger 1st Viscount Chelmsford of Chelmsford

born Aug. 12, 1868, London, Eng. died April 1, 1933, London English colonial administrator. In 1905 he was appointed governor of Queensland, Austl., and in 1909 of New South Wales. He left Australia in 1913 to serve in India as a captain in the Dorsetshire regiment. As viceroy of India in a time of surging Indian nationalism (1916-21), he helped to institute reforms increasing Indian representation in government but provoked opposition by his severe measures against nationalists

Hyphenation

John Na·pier

Turkish pronunciation

cän neypiır

Pronunciation

/ˈʤän ˈnāpēər/ /ˈʤɑːn ˈneɪpiːɜr/