Which device did William Oughtred invent in 1621?
William Oughtred recreational mathematics, "Récréations Mathématiques" (1624) by Hendrik van Etten, a pseudonym of Jean Leurechon. The translation itself is no longer attributed to Oughtred, but (probably) to Francis Malthus. Oughtred also invented the Universal equinoctial ring dial. William Oughtred William Oughtred ( ; 5 March 1574 – 30 June 1660) was an English mathematician and Anglican clergyman. After John Napier invented logarithms and Edmund Gunter created the logarithmic scales (lines, or rules) upon which slide rules are based, Oughtred was the first to use two such scales sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division. He is credited with
William Oughtred tree, "as if infused by a divine genius", after having pondered those problems unsuccessfully for months or years. Oughtred's name has been mentioned in purported histories of early freemasonry, a suggestion that Oughtred was present at Elias Ashmole's 1646 initiation going back to Thomas De Quincey. Oughtred expressed millenarian views to John Evelyn in 1655:"Came that renowned mathematician, Mr. Oughtred, to see me, I sending my coach to bring him to Wotton, being now very aged. Among other discourse, he told me he thought water to be the philosopher's first matter, and that he was well persuaded of the possibility