John Napier of Merchiston

John Napier, 8th Laird of Merchiston (1550–1617), worked in seclusion in his castle tower outside Edinburgh. Recognizing that astronomers like Tycho Brahe spent months performing laborious manual multiplications and divisions of multi-digit numbers, Napier dedicated twenty years to discovering an easier mathematical path.

In his 1614 treatise Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio ('Description of the Wonderful Canon of Logarithms'), he invented logarithms, converting complex multiplication into simple addition and division into subtraction. Laplace famously celebrated Napier by stating that logarithms 'doubled the life of astronomers'. He also invented 'Napier's bones' calculating rods and standardized the modern decimal point.