LYCOS RETRIEVER 
John Napier
built 634 days ago
John Napier's father, Archibald Napier, was an important man in late 16th century Scotland. His family had owned the Merchiston estate from the 1430s when one of his ancestors acquired the estate, becoming the first Napare of Merchiston. The family ... owned estates at Lennox and at Menteith and a residence at Gartness. Archibald Napier married Janet Bothwell, the sister of the Bishop of Orkney, in 1549 when he was only 15 years old. Their son John Napier was born the following year. Archibald Napier was a justice-depute and was knighted in 1565.
Source:
John Napier is an associated designer of the RSC. His credits include, for the RSC, Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Once in a Lifetime, The Greeks, Nicholas Nickleby, Hedda Gabler, Peter Pan and Mother Courage, and for the NT, The Party, Equus, An Enemy of the People, Peter Pan, Candide and South Pacific. Among his opera credits are Lohengrin and Macbeth (Royal Opera), Idomeneo (Glyndebourne), The Devils (ENO) and Nabucco (Metropolitan Opera). His awards include two Society of West End Theatre awards, an Olivier, a BAFTA, and five Tony Awards for Nicholas Nickleby, Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misrables and Sunset Boulevard, his other West End credits include Miss Saigon, Time, Children of Eden and Jesus Christ Superstar. He created and co-ordinated the Siegfried & Roy show in Las Vegas. His film credits include Steven Spielberg's Hook.
Source:
John Napier studied at Hornsey College of Art and subsequently the Central School of Arts and Crafts under Ralph Koltai. He is an Associate Designer of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Notable productions include Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Once in a Lifetime, Nicholas Nickleby, Hedda Gabler, Peter Pan and Mother Courage. His productions for the National Theatre include Peter Shaffer's Equus, later seen worldwide, Trelawny of the Wells and, more recently, Peter Pan, An Enemy of the People and Candide. John Napier has designed Lohengrin and Macbeth for the Royal Opera House, Idomeneo for Glyndebourne, The Devils for ENO and is working on Nabucco for the Met in New York. In the musical theatre he designed Cats, Starlight Express, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard.
Source:
John Napier's (1550-1617) invention of logarithms immensely facilitated mathematical computations before the age of computers. Lengthy multiplications and divisions of large numbers were replaced by the addition or subtraction of their logarithms, which were calculated and conveniently available in tables of great accuracy. The Nicaraguan stamp shows astronomical equipment and the Big Dipper. Astronomical calculations benefitted enormously from the use of accurate logarithmic tables. Napier's "bones," or sliding scales, later became the slide rule, an essential tool for engineers and scientists until replaced by the hand-held calculator of the 1970's. On the Romanian stamps of 1957 publicizing a Congress of Engineers and Technicians, calipers and slide rule represent quintessential tools for measurement and calculation.
Source:
When John Napier was born the struggle between Roman Catholism and Protestantism, which was to cleave Scotland in two, had already began. During the first ten years of his life the conflict between the two religions was virtually settled. Between the years 1560 and 1570 the country was emerged in civil war, one party being for the old religion and an alliance with France and the other for Protestantism and alliance with England. The civil strife ended with the victory of the Protestant Party, and in 1560 a Convention of the Estates set up Protestantism as the national religion. The origin of Napier’s abiding horror of the Church of Rome can be traced to his youth and the prejudices against Catholism which he formed at that time. Eventually, it came to be his burning conviction that the salvation of mankind was bound up with the overthrow of Papacy.
Source:
John Napier, or Neper, the son of Sir Archibald Napier, was born at Merchiston Castle near Edinburgh. At the age of 13 he entered the University of St. Andrews. He might ... have studied at universities in the Low Countries, France, and Italy. What is known with certainty is that by 1571 Napier was back home and the next year married Elizabeth Stirling. His life at the newly built castle at Gartnes left him with ample time for such varied interests as mathematics, agriculture, and religious politics.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
John Napier