On the anniversary of Napier’s death here are a couple of quotes regarding his logarithms;

Briggs said

Napper, lord of Markinston, hath set my head and hands a work with his new and admirable logarithms. I hope to see him this summer, if it please God, for I never saw a book which pleased me better or made me more wonder.

and Laplace said logs

…by shortening the labours, doubled the life of the astronomer.

Read Napier’s bio.

John Napier (1550-1617) best known for inventing logarithms but did much more, died 4 Apr http://t.co/wNKPRtKX4P

— Maths History (@mathshistory) April 4, 2014