John Napier or John Neper was a Scottish mathematician born on 1 February 1550. He was born in Merchiston Tower near Merchiston Castle, an independent school for suburban boys in Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was Sir Archibald Napier and his mother was Janet Bothwell. As a boy, at the age of thirteen, he received an early education at home from private tutors. He attended 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 graduating. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Not much is known about Napier's early life and how he improved his education in mathematics. It is said that when he was a young adult, he traveled to continental Europe to study. He took 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. When his studies were completed, 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 fourth Laird of Keir and Cadder. Together they had two children. His wife died in 1579 and he married Agnes Chisholm shortly thereafter. He had ten children with her, for a total of 12 children. Since he was considered an adult, most of his family's possessions were transferred to him. In 1574 he brought a castle to Gartness. He subsequently concentrated on managing the properties assigned to him. While managing his properties, when he had time he devoted himself to mathematical research. His life was spent in harsh religious controversies. He was a passionate and resolute Protestant. When he dealt with the Church of Rome he did not want money and did not give money. He was constantly involved in religious controversies which delayed his scientific research. He published 'Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of Saint John' in 1594. There is some suspicion that Napier enlisted Philip II's help in arranging for James VI of Scotland to succeed Elizabeth I to the English throne. Napier was closely associated with the Scottish Church and begged James to bring the church effectively to the side of the Roman Catholics. John was a member of a committee charged with making representations to the king regarding 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 has the dedication of his Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of Saint John. It was a work designed to help contemporary events. It was a religious work written to influence the political events of the 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 first published in Latin. Two years later, a man named Edward Wright translated and published the work in English. The book had 57 pages of explanations and 90 pages of number tables relating to natural and regular logarithms. He discussed theorems of spherical trigonometry. This later became known as the Napier Circular Parts Rules. He gained much honor and respect for creating logarithms. The English mathematician Henry Briggs visited Napier in 1615 and they worked together on the process and Briggs invented a new table which made it easier and quicker to carry out calculations by hand. John Napier is considered the founder of the Napier logarithm or Naperian logarithm. The term means.