Mathematician:Richard Delamain

Mathematician

English mathematician credited with the invention of a circular slide rule although precedence for this was disputed with his tutor William Oughtred.

At one time was mathematics tutor to Charles I of England.

An early supporter of the idea of using mechanical aids to perform mathematics.

His arguments with Oughtred on the subject mirror similar ones in more recent times over the use of computers to solve mathematical problems.

Nationality

English

History

• Born: 1600, London, England
• Died: 1644

Publications

• 1629: Grammelogia (in which he described the circular slide rule)
• 1631: The Making, Description, and Use of . . . a Horizontal Quadrant

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Richard Delamain": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive