Christopher Wren

Christopher Wren (1632-1723) was an English astronomer, mathematician and architect. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College in London from 1657 and Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford from 1661, and was a founder of the Royal Society, serving as its president from 1680 to 1682. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 he became Surveyor of the King's Works in 1669 and directed the rebuilding of the City's churches and of St Paul's Cathedral. He was knighted in 1673.

His first buildings were the chapel of Pembroke College, Cambridge (1662-1665), and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford (1664-1669). After the fire his office rebuilt 51 or 52 City churches; sources differ on the count. St Paul's was built from 1675 and declared complete by Parliament in 1711. Its dome has three layers: an inner masonry dome seen from inside, an outer lead-covered timber dome, and a brick cone between them that carries the stone lantern on top.

His other works include the Monument to the Great Fire (1671-1676, with Robert Hooke), the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge (1676-1684), the Royal Hospital Chelsea (1682-1692), the south front of Hampton Court Palace (1689-1702) and the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich (from 1696). He is buried in St Paul's, under a Latin inscription that reads, in English, "Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you."