John Wallis was a founding member of the Royal Society, one of the oldest scientific organizations still in existence, and is considered by many the most influential British mathematician preceding Isaac Newton. He contributed the earliest forms,...

Born in Ashford, England, Wallis was the son of minister, who died when Wallis was only six years old. In 1631 he attended the Martin Holbeach school in Essex, where he trained in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and logic. Although mathematics was not part of...

1616-1703 English Mathematician John Wallis coined the mathematical use of the word "interpolation," and was the first to use the infinity symbol (∞). He introduced a number of other terms and varieties of notation, and made the...

1616-1703 English mathematician who, with Christiaan Huygens and Christopher Wren, established conservation of momentum (1668). In Arithmetica Infinitorum (1656) he presented a method for calculating areas under curves using infinite sums, which...

John Wallis (November 23, 1616 - October 28, 1703) was an English mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of modern calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal court. He is...

This essay is about the life and times of John Wallis, and his contributions to the world of mathematics.