John Wallis.

English mathematician. John Wallis (WAHL-uhs) was born in the village of Ashford, Kent, the son of the village rector, John Wallis, senior, and his second wife, Joanna Wallis, née Chapman. Wallis’s father died in 1622. He was left with sufficient resources to obtain a good elementary education and enrolled at an Essex school run by Martin Holbech in 1630. There, he was told by the master that he was the best prepared student in mathematics he had encountered. Wallis was, in addition to his mathematical learning, something of a calculating prodigy. From Holbech’s school, he proceeded to Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied medicine and took courses in physics as well as moral philosophy.