Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren was one of the greatest and most versatile Englishmen of his age.

Most famous today for the redesign and rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral, he was also Professor of Astronomy at Oxford and a founding and active member of the Royal Society.

Following a childhood in which he was continuously designing and building contraptions, his talents were so exceptional that he was recognized as a genius while still an Oxford undergraduate.

While Professor of Astronomy, he designed some of Oxford's earliest Classical buildings, but it was the Great Fire of London that changed Wren's life.

As "principal architect" among the commissioners appointed to rebuild the city, he led a team that included his old friend Professor of Geometry, Robert Hooke, and his brilliant young assistant, Nicholas Hawksmoor, who joined him in 1679.

Together they enriched London with the cathedral and churches which 300 years later are still amongst its greatest architectural treasures.