John Napier is credited with publicly introducing the concept of logarithms in 1614, in his work Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio. Joost Bürgi (Bugy or Burgi) independently developed a logarithmic framework around the same period, with publication of his method later (1620). Napier’s logarithms were designed to simplify multiplication and division by transforming them into addition and subtraction using logarithm tables, and his work laid the foundation for the development of logarithmic tables used in astronomy, navigation, and computation. Key points:

• Napier publicly propounded logarithms in 1614 with the aim of easing computations in trigonometry and astronomy. He introduced a system based on fixed powers to generate logarithms and tabulated their values.

• Bürgi independently conceived a similar idea earlier in the 17th century, but his results were published later and are often discussed in the context of parallel developments in Europe.

• Napier also popularized related computational devices (Napier’s bones) and helped advance decimal notation usage, which facilitated the practical adoption of logarithms.

If you’d like, I can provide a concise timeline with primary dates and highlight the differences between Napier’s and Bürgi’s logarithm approaches.