Great Scot ! John Napier of Merchistoun
John Napier of Merchistoun (1550 - 4 April 1617) was a Scottish mathematician, physicist, astronomer/astrologer and 8th Laird of Merchistoun. He is most remembered as the inventor of logarithms and for popularizing the use of the decimal point.
But did you know...
Napier used some of his mathematical talents for theology, as he used the Book of Revelation to predict the Apocalypse, calculating that the end of the world would occur in 1688 or 1700.
Well it didn't.
In addition to his mathematical and religious interests, Napier was commonly believed to be a magician, and is thought to have dabbled in alchemy and necromancy. It was said that he would travel about with a black spider in a small box, and that his black rooster was his familiar spirit.
An occasion which may have contributed to his reputation as a sorcerer was one involving a neighbor, whose pigeons were found to be eating Napier's grain. Napier warned his neighbor that he intended to keep any of the pigeons that he found on his property. The next day, it is said, Napier was witnessed scooping up the passive pigeons and putting them in a sack. In fact, he had sown peas soaked in brandy, which the pigeons then ate, making themselves too inebriated to fly.
(Most of this info has been shamelessly cut n pasted from Wikipedia)