= John Napier
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<John Napier> was a mathematical scholar whose 1614 publication introduced <logarithms> as a tool for reducing difficult calculations. His construction was expressed through a motion analogy and used a scaling different from the modern convention; identifying his original tables directly with ordinary base-ten tables is misleading. He also developed calculating rods and methods for <spherical trigonometry>.https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Napier/[Biography, 1614 publication and construction of logarithms]{ref} In modern notation, $\log(ab)=\log a+\log b$ for positive real $a,b$. Tables therefore turn multiplication into addition and division into subtraction, followed by an inverse lookup. This was especially valuable for long astronomical and navigational calculations before electronic computers.
\Image[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/John%20Napier.jpg?width=250]
{title=Portrait of <John Napier>}
{description=Unknown artist, 1616; painting presented to University of Edinburgh by Margaret, later Baroness Napier; scan source listed on Commons. Public domain (life-plus-100, pre-1931 U.S. publication), faithful reproduction / PD-Art. Source and usage information on the linked Wikimedia file page.}
{source=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Napier.jpg}
{width=250}
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