John Wallis was an English mathematician born in Ashford, Kent, England. He was first intended to be a doctor but his interested circled around mathematics. After receiving his Masters degree he entered the priesthood as a scribe for 6 years. He made many contributions to trigonometry, calculus, geometry and the analysis of infinite series along with other fields in English grammar, Theology, Logic, and Philosophy.. He was also interested in cryptography and he used his interest along with his knowledge in the area to decode Royalist messages for the Parliamentarians. This was during the time of the Civil War between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. Around that time he also joined a group of scientists that were later called the Royal Society and 6 years after that in 1649 he was appointed as chair of Geometry at Oxford University, where he stayed until his death in 1703.
John Wallis among with all his brilliance was also an insomniac and used to do mental calculations in his head while lying in bed at night. He once calculated the square root of a 53-digit number and later recited it correctly from memory to 27-digit accuracy. He also designed a structure that was cleverly put together by using what we call today as structural analysis, solving a set of 25 simultaneous equations by hand.
“Wallis designed a structure that could span a square space while only being supported at the edges. It was made up of a pattern of short and identical interlocking pieces, each of which is attached to another piece at each end and supporting two other pieces in-between.”
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The structure didn’t need any screws, nails or glue since the pieces supported each other imposing only vertical forces.
Wallis also introduced the symbol for infinity as being represented by 
. The Romans commonly used a similar symbol for a thousand. The reason why Wallis thought it was a good symbol to represent infinity was because the "ribbon" that was in the shape of an eight had no ending and just continued on in the same shape. This symbol was also sometimes depicted as another form of the ancient ouroboros snake symbol, which is a snake twisted into a horizontal eight that is eating its own tail that represented endlessness.
. The Romans commonly used a similar symbol for a thousand. The reason why Wallis thought it was a good symbol to represent infinity was because the "ribbon" that was in the shape of an eight had no ending and just continued on in the same shape. This symbol was also sometimes depicted as another form of the ancient ouroboros snake symbol, which is a snake twisted into a horizontal eight that is eating its own tail that represented endlessness. These examples are just a few of his many accomplishments that he made throughout his life and in the field of mathematics. To know more about his more complicated discoveries about mathematics this website does a good job at explaining them.
http://scramble.hubpages.com/hub/John-Wallis-Mathematical-Biography
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