john wallis (; – ) was an english clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for parliament and, later, the royal court. he is credited with introducing the symbol ∞ to represent the concept of infinity. he similarly used 1/∞ for an infinitesimal. john wallis was a contemporary of newton and one of the greatest intellectuals of the early renaissance of mathematics.