Simon Stevin

Simon Stevin (1548–1620) was a Flemish mathematician and engineer, born probably in Bruges. After working as a clerk in Bruges, he moved north in 1581 and enrolled at Leiden University in 1583. At Leiden he befriended Maurice of Nassau and became his tutor and principal adviser, director of the Dutch water works from 1592 and quartermaster-general of the States-General's army.

He coined a native Dutch word for mathematics and translated other scientific terms into Dutch, proved the law of equilibrium on the inclined plane, and built a wind-driven land carriage that outran horses on the coastal sands.