Peter was born in London on January 18th, 1779. He was an English doctor, writer and inventor but today, he is best known for developing and creating the first ever thesaurus. In 1852 he created the first edition which was called the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
Peter Mark Roget
January 18, 1779 - September 12, 1869
1798 He studied medicine at Edinburgh University and graduated
In 1808, he moved to London and continued to lecture on medical topics. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society and from 1827 to 1848 served as its secretary.
In 1814, he invented a slide rule to calculate the roots and powers of numbers. This formed the basis of slide rules that were common currency in schools and universities until the age of the calculator.
In 1840, Roget effectively retired from medicine and spent the rest of his life on the project that has made his name, 'Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases', which was a dictionary of synonyms.
As early as 1805 he had compiled, for his own personal use, a small indexed catalogue of words which he used to enhance his prolific writing.
Creating the first ever thesaurus was able to boost Peter's fame.
His thesaurus was published in 1852 and has never been out of print.
Roget died on 12 September 1869.