Robert Recorde

Robert Recorde (* 1510 in Tenby near Pembroke , Pembrokeshire, Wales; † 1558 in the London Borough of Southwark ) was a Welsh physician and mathematician .

Life

Robert Recorde came from a noble Welsh family and received his education at Oxford and Cambridge , where he was awarded a degree in medicine in 1545. He later taught at Oxford for a short time. He was probably the personal physician of the English King Edward VI. and his successor Maria I. Tudor .

Recorde died in the guilty prison . The reason for his imprisonment is unknown, but may be due to misdemeanors Recorde was guilty of in his temporary role as inspector of the Irish mines.

Works

His remaining work deal with arithmetic , geometry and algebra , which he introduced as the first mathematician in England. The Ground of Arts (1540) saw numerous editions and remained the standard work for arithmetic until the 17th century. The modern equal sign (=) appeared for the first time in The whetstone of witte (1557 ).

Fonts

The Grovnd of Artes (printed in London between 1540 and 1542)
The Castle of Knowledge (printed in London in 1551)
The pathwaie to knowledge (printed in London in 1551)
The whetstone of witte (printed in London in 1557)

literature

Florian Cajori : A History of Mathematical Notations , vol. 1, La Salle (Illinois) 1928
Moritz Cantor : Lectures on the History of Mathematics , Vol. 2, Leipzig 1913 (unchanged reprint of the 2nd edition)
David Eugene Smith : History of Mathematics , vol. 1, New York 1958 (1951, 1953. Republication)
DJ Struik (ed.): A Source Book in Mathematics, 1200-1800 , Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1969

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Recorde, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English medic and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH	1510
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tenby at Pembroke
DATE OF DEATH	1558
Place of death	London Borough of Southwark