Wallis, John 1616-1703
English mathematician

Born in Ashford, Kent, he graduated at Cambridge, and took holy orders, but in 1649 became Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford. Besides the Arithmetica Infinitorum (1656), in which he offered a remarkable method for finding areas under curves in terms of infinite sums (soon replaced by the more rigorous calculus), he wrote on the binomial theorem and gave an infinite product for pi. He also wrote on proportion, mechanics, grammar, logic, theology, and the teaching of the deaf and dumb. Wallis was also an expert on deciphering, and edited the work of some of the Greek mathematicians. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society.

Bibliography: Joseph F Scott, The Mathematical Work of John Wallis (1616-1703)