Barlow

Peter Barlow

Born: 15 Oct 1776 in Norwich, England
Died: 1 March 1862 in Kent, England

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Barlow was self-educated and became a mathematics master at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He is remembered most for two important contributions. In 1814 he produced Barlow's Tables which give factors, squares, cubes, square roots, reciprocals and hyperbolic logs of all numbers from 1 to 10 000. This was greatly used until made completely obsolete by calculators. His second major contribution makes his name still well known by amateur astronomers.

He invented the Barlow lens, a telescope lens consisting of a colourless liquid between two pieces of glass. In his lifetime Barlow's greatest achievement was being elected to the Royal Society and receiving its Copley medal for his work on magnetism.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. Peter Barlow, Dictionary of National Biography . 
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