Robert Recorde
"To avoide the tediouse repetition of these
woordes: is equalle to: I will settle as I doe often in woorke use, a paire of paralleles,
or gemowe [twin] lines of one lengthe: =, bicause noe .2. thynges, can be moare equalle."
Robert Recorde, The Whetstone of Witte (1510 - 1558)
Robert Recorde was born in South West Wales. He was educated at Oxford,
practised medicine and was controller of the Royal Mint at Bristol. In his work The
Whetstone of Witte (1557) he introduced the equality sign = for the first time.
The Computer Science Department at Swansea has a page
devoted to Robert Recorde and a commissioned plaque.
Further information can also be found
here.
