Playfair grave to be marked

THE grave of one of Scotland’s most eminent scientists and mathematicians was finally due to be marked today – almost 200 years after he died.

John Playfair was a leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and was a wealthy man when he died in July 1819, but he was buried in an unmarked grave in Old Calton Cemetery, in Waterloo Place.

The plaque, to be unveiled in a ceremony in Old Calton graveyard, will also mark the resting place of his brother, the architect James Playfair.