Robert Recorde, 1510-1558, physician and mathematician.
Born in Tenby, attended the universities of both Oxford and Cambridge, acted as physician to the royal family, and died in a debtors' prison in Southwark.
Inventor of the equals sign (that's this for you non-mathematicians: "="). Also the inventor of the word zenzizenzizenzic meaning "raised to the eighth power", e.g. the zenzizenzizenzic of 2 is 256. This word has the most z's of any word in the English language, but it is a bit difficult to slip into conversation. Give it a go, though.
I've had a few arguments about the 'great welsh inventors?' in my time. A little research, and it turns out that Taffs HAVE actually invented some things:
ReplyDeleteThe needle valve for sports ball inflation.
Burglar alarms.
The Projector.
Automatic street lighting.
X rays.
as well as the 'Equals sign'.
and of course...
(all true)
THE SPARE TYRE!
ARTIFICIAL RAIN!
and best of all:
SHEEP CLONING. (remember 'Dolly'?!)
Cheers. Thanks. Bye.
A little more research and it seems like they have helped with other inventions / theories etc.
ReplyDeleteTaffs seems to be good at this.
Just, sort of, well, helping.
ahhh... bless.