<P> The slide rule was invented around 1620 -- 1630 , shortly after John Napier 's publication of the concept of the logarithm . In 1620 Edmund Gunter of Oxford developed a calculating device with a single logarithmic scale ; with additional measuring tools it could be used to multiply and divide . In c. 1622 , William Oughtred of Cambridge combined two handheld Gunter rules to make a device that is recognizably the modern slide rule . Like his contemporary at Cambridge , Isaac Newton , Oughtred taught his ideas privately to his students . Also like Newton , he became involved in a vitriolic controversy over priority , with his one - time student Richard Delamain and the prior claims of Wingate . Oughtred 's ideas were only made public in publications of his student William Forster in 1632 and 1653 . </P>
<P> The slide rule was invented around 1620 -- 1630 , shortly after John Napier 's publication of the concept of the logarithm . In 1620 Edmund Gunter of Oxford developed a calculating device with a single logarithmic scale ; with additional measuring tools it could be used to multiply and divide . In c. 1622 , William Oughtred of Cambridge combined two handheld Gunter rules to make a device that is recognizably the modern slide rule . Like his contemporary at Cambridge , Isaac Newton , Oughtred taught his ideas privately to his students . Also like Newton , he became involved in a vitriolic controversy over priority , with his one - time student Richard Delamain and the prior claims of Wingate . Oughtred 's ideas were only made public in publications of his student William Forster in 1632 and 1653 . </P>
who invented slide rule and in what year
who invented slide rule and in what year
William Oughtred c. 1622
William Oughtred c. 1622