Burgius, Jobst

The Swiss Jobst Burgius (1552 - 1632), was a clockmaker and mathematician.

Although an autodidact, he was already during his lifetime considered as one of the most excellent mechanical engineers. He invented logarithms as a working tool for himself for his astronomical calculations, but as a craftsman scholar rather than a book scholar he failed to publish his invention for a long time.

In 1614, he published a table of progressions what is now understood as antilogarithms independently of John Napier.

See also

• Archimedes
• Briggs
• de Decker
• al Khwarizmi
• Napier
• Stifel