KOL PEIT

Kol Peit (24/9/1746 - 27/4/1831) was a mathematician and an ASO Ers Orator in the beginning of the 19th century. He was born in Holborn and studied in the local University. His talent was noted by ASO members and he became a prodigy of the establishment at a young age. As a mathematician he was most noted for his use of the symbol π (the Greek letter Pi) to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Peit was also a linguistic genius who in addition to his native languages English and Pharonian, learned Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and the basics of Chinese writing at an early age. He would have become an Ers Orator much earlier, but the body chose nobleman Emer Lee instead. After Lee's resignation he became Ers Orator in 1804. He was a radical political thinker, a friend of American independence. His work, The principles of government; in a dialogue between a scholar and a peasant (1793), was the subject of a trial for seditious libel. He established several predictions based on mathematical analysis which the ASO followed the next 50 years.