207,380 profiles ranked

John Wallis

English mathematician (*1616 - †1703) · Academics · Died at 86

John Wallis is read about 124 times a day, in 48 languages.

Counted to 17 September 2026, not since.

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?
Compare

He gave infinity its symbol - ∞ - and cracked codes for Parliament while laying groundwork for calculus a generation before Newton walked in.

ScientistsAcademicMathematicsPhilosophyNews BroadcastingEarly Modern Era

A life in dates

1703Died28 October 17031685“Suppose we a certain Number of things exposed, different each from other, as a, b, c, d, e, &c. The question is, how many ways the order of these may be varied?”In their wordsCh.II Of Alternations, or the different Change of Order, in any Number of Things proposed.

1656“You may find this work (if I judge rightly) quite new. For I see no reason why I should not proclaim it; nor do I believe that others will take it wrongly.”In their wordsTranslation via Jacqueline A. Stedal, The Arithmetic of Infinitesimals: John Wallis 1656 (2004) unless otherwise indicated

“This method of mine takes its beginnings where Cavalieri ends his Method of indivisibles.”In their wordsTranslation via Jacqueline A. Stedal, The Arithmetic of Infinitesimals: John Wallis 1656 (2004) unless otherwise indicated

“I... began... with simple series... of quantities in arithmetic proportion, or... their squares, cubes, etc. and then... their square roots, cube roots, etc.”In their wordsTranslation via Jacqueline A. Stedal, The Arithmetic of Infinitesimals: John Wallis 1656 (2004) unless otherwise indicated

“Passing then to augmented series... and diminished... or altered... constituted from sums or differences of two or more other series.”In their wordsTranslation via Jacqueline A. Stedal, The Arithmetic of Infinitesimals: John Wallis 1656 (2004) unless otherwise indicated

1635“[Mathematics were] scarce looked upon as Academical studies but rather Mechanical...”In their words(1635) as quoted by W. W. Rouse Ball, A History of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge (1889) pp. 41-42.

1616Born23 November 1616

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

John Wallis by Sir Godfrey Kneller, BtJohn Wallis by Sir Godfrey Kneller, BtFirst known usage of the infinity symbolFirst known usage of the infinity symbolJohn Wallis. Line engraving by D. Loggan, 1678, after himsel Wellcome V0006130John Wallis. Line engraving by D. Loggan, 1678, after himsel Wellcome V0006130John Wallis. Line engraving by G. B. Cipriani. Wellcome V0006132ELJohn Wallis. Line engraving by G. B. Cipriani. Wellcome V0006132ELJohn Wallis. Line engraving by J. Basire, 1791, after G. B. Wellcome V0006132ERJohn Wallis. Line engraving by J. Basire, 1791, after G. B. Wellcome V0006132ERJohn Wallis. Line engraving by M. Burghers, 1699, after D. L Wellcome V0006131John Wallis. Line engraving by M. Burghers, 1699, after D. L Wellcome V0006131John Wallis. Line engraving by M. Burghers, 1699, after W. S Wellcome V0006134John Wallis. Line engraving by M. Burghers, 1699, after W. S Wellcome V0006134John Wallis. Stipple engraving by J. Hopwood after G. B. Cip Wellcome V0006133John Wallis. Stipple engraving by J. Hopwood after G. B. Cip Wellcome V0006133

In their own words 10

,
John Wallis
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. Let as many Numbers, as you please, be proposed to be Combined: Suppose Five, which we will call a b c d e. Put, in so many Lines, Numbers, in duple proportion, beginning with 1.

    1685, Ch.I Of the variety of Elections, or Choice, in taking or leaving One or more, out of a certain Number of things proposed., Own words

  2. Suppose we a certain Number of things exposed, different each from other, as a, b, c, d, e, &c. The question is, how many ways the order of these may be varied?

    1685, Ch.II Of Alternations, or the different Change of Order, in any Number of Things proposed., Own words

  3. You may find this work (if I judge rightly) quite new. For I see no reason why I should not proclaim it; nor do I believe that others will take it wrongly.

    1656, Translation via Jacqueline A. Stedal, The Arithmetic of Infinitesimals: John Wallis 1656 (2004) unless otherwise indicated, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Family

Parents

John Wallis
Is this everyone?

Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.

Correct this family

About this person

John Wallis was an English clergyman and mathematician born 3 December 1616. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and later the royal court, reading encrypted messages while advancing pure mathematics in parallel. He extended Cavalieri's method of indivisibles through interpolation and applied Kepler's principle of continuity to develop techniques for evaluating integrals - steps that edged toward the calculus Newton would formalize. He introduced ∞ to represent infinity and 1/∞ for the infinitesimal, symbols that stuck. He died 8 November 1703, recognized as one of the greatest intellectuals of early modern mathematics.

Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1616 to 1703 · aged 86

Academics born in the 1610s 6

John Wilkins55.0Elisabeth of the Palatinate53.0Crown Prince Sohyeon52.8Henry More52.7Thomas Bartholin51.7Huang Zongxi49.9

Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.