- Vernier, Pierre
- SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering[br]b. c. 1580 Ornans, Franche-Comté, Franced. 14 September 1637 Ornans, FrancheComté, France[br]French mathematician, inventor of the vernier caliper, an instrument for making highly accurate linear measurements.[br]He was educated by his father, Claude Vernier, and from an early age studied all kinds of instruments, both in practice and in theory. The Spanish government employed him on several commissions, before he was elected commandant of the Château d'Ornans and later Director-General of Finances and Counsellor for the county of Bourgogne. In 1631 he wrote La Construction, l'usage et les propriétés du quadrant nouveau de mathématiques ("The Construction, Uses and Properties of a New Mathematical Quadrant"), which contained tables of trigonometric sines and a method of calculating the angles of a triangle from the lengths of its sides, as well as a description of his new measuring instrument which became known as the vernier caliper.[br]Bibliography1631, La Construction, l'usage et les propriétés du quadrant nouveau de mathématiques, Brussels.Further ReadingRosenkilde and Bagger (eds), 1969, Nouvelle biographie générale, Copenhagen.IMcN
Biographical history of technology. - Taylor & Francis e-Librar. Lance Day and Ian McNeil. 2005.
