Dem Napier's Bones

This picture shows some of the elaborate detailing on the monument to John Napier (1550 - 1617), the Scottish mathematician, alleged occultist and astronomer, that's housed in St. Cuthbert's Parish Church Edinburgh. His body is buried in a vault to the north of the Church, having been moved from the original grave when the building was altered, and this commemorative marker was erected in 1842 and can be seen in the entrance hall of the church.
Although Napier received very little formal education in Scotland, he travelled when young on the continent and it is thought his schooling took place there. Returning to his home country at the age of 21 he was resident at Gartness until his father's death in 1574 when he moved to the family seat of Merchiston Castle (which survives as part of Napier University's Merchiston Campus) in Edinburgh.
It was his discovery of logarithms and construction of early calculating devices (one of which was called 'Napier's Bones') that won John Napier fame, along with his religious writings - one of which concluded that based on the book of Revelation the end of the world would occur in 1688 or 1700. Obviously he thought it wise to hedge his bets! He died from the effects of gout in 1617 so didn't live to see that he got this wrong.