Talk:John Napier

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[edit] Hyperbole

I think "undoubtedly one of the most important inventions in math" and "in line with Archimedes, Newton, Einstein" is slightly exaggerated. Logarithms are an important contribution, no doubt. Maybe we could reduce the hyperbole though. --AxelBoldt

I think he also wrote some religious treatises. Extreme Calvinist stuff i think. Don't how how important that was considered at the time.

I thought that the decimal point was first invented by Simon Stevin. See http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Stevin.html for example. -- Dominus 15:05, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The Simon Stevin page says he didn't, but it credits Bartholomaeus Pitiscus with the invention of the decimal point. -- Dominus 15:07, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Nearly every major mathmatical discovery has been "discovered" at least twice. He may well have "discovered" it.

--Gunter 03:58, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC) Didn't Joost Buerghi (Switzerland) developed the Logarithm table in 1588? This preceeds Napier.

Is Napier = Neper ? What is the explanation for the two spellings?

The name "Napier" predates systematized spelling in English. John Napier spelled his name variously as Nepair, Naipper, Naper, Neper, Napper, Napeir, and Napare. See the Great Vowel Shift for a more detailed explanation. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by LeeNapier (talk • contribs) 18:30, 13 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] john napier

John Napier popularized the decimal, not invented it! and Napier and Neper are the same thing, just one is in a different language...

[edit] Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was to move the page back

John Napier (mathematician) → John Napier – Move back to original spot. This article was moved a few days ago to "disambiguate" it from an obscure academic. Every link to John Napier is about this highly notable mathematician and inventor, not the other one. It is as if somebody called "William Shakespeare" got elected as mayor of Chislehurst, and somebody moved the William Shakespeare article to William Shakespeare (writer)! Let's get some perspective back.

[edit] Voting

Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional one-sentence explanation, then sign your vote with ~~~~
  • Support --Mais oui! 12:43, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Support -- Per nom. Duja 12:53, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Support per Mais oui! --Cactus.man ✍ 13:19, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Support--Major historical figures should not be disambiguated every time their name conflicts wtih some minor figure; a For other John Napiers see... would suffice.--agr 15:44, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Support per nom. It's not even as though links to the (now disambig) page have been changed. └ UkPaolo/talk┐ 16:36, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Support. Gene Nygaard 01:13, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion

  • Comment I've just had a quick check: there are 76 links to John Napier [1] (now of course a disambiguation page). As far as I can make out, every single one of them is about this guy and not the other one. To make matters worse, the User who moved this page has not even had the courtesy to go round even starting to try to fix all those 76 broken links.--Mais oui! 12:58, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in including these two little titbits in the article - He was nicknamed "Marvellous Mercheston" as he was born in Mercheston tower and he died of gout.--Crestville 13:47, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vote completed

Consensus for a move back to John Napier demonstrated. -- Derek Ross | Talk 19:25, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

he3 was a sex offender

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Trivia

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in including these two little titbits in the article - He was nicknamed "Marvellous Mercheston" as he was born in Mercheston tower and he died of gout.--Crestville 13:49, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like a fun little thing to introduce into the body text, but is there a reliable source for the nickname? (i.e. where did you read/hear that?) – Kieran T (talk | contribs) 13:53, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

I heared it on a segment called "Dead of the Night" on the Geoff Show on virgin radio. However, there are also sources here, here and here. I also found it interesting that people at the time belived his to be something of a magician. In retrospect, though, I think he was called "marvellous merchiston, not becuase of where he was born but because he was Laird of Merchiston--Crestville 18:37, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

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