Tag Archives: Gresham College

1600s, Architects, Astronomy, Churches, DRAFTS, Scientists

Christopher Wren

1632-1723

We all know Wren as an architect but at the age of just 25 he was appointed professor of astronomy at Gresham College.

He studied mathematics, mechanics, medicine, meteorology and microscopy. He was a member of parliament who served three terms in the House of Commons and, despite being born a sickly child in the 1600s lived to the age of 90.

It is, however, as an architect that we best know him. in 1669, three years after the Great Fire, King Charles II appointed him Surveyor of Works and charged him with rebuilding the City.

Rebuild it, he did. Aside from other buildings, he rebuilt 52 City of London churches including St Paul’s cathedral.

He was assisted by architect and polymath Robert Hooke and worked alongside architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.

He laid the groundwork for the formation of the Royal Society of which he was later president.

1600s, Astronomy, DRAFTS, Scientists

Robert Hooke

1635-1703.

Hooke was a scientist engaged in a number of disciplines. He formulated Hooke’s Law relating to elastic properties of materials.

Hooke became curator of experiments for the Royal Society in 1662.

Three years later, in 1665, he was appointed Professor of Geometry at Gresham College.

Hooke was a pioneer in the development of the microscope and also wrote papers on gravity which are respected to this day.

As an architect he was chief assistant to Christopher Wren when rebuilding the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666.

Like Wren, Hooke was an astronomer and determined to prove that the earth rotated around the sun. This led to a failed experiment involving the star Gamma Draconis.

1500s, Education

Gresham College

This was effectively the first university in the City of London. Funded by a bequest from financier Thomas Gresham it was built in Bishopsgate in 1571. It stood near where Tower 42 aka the Natwest Building now stands.

It was a place, of course, of education but also of research. The Royal Society first met here in 1660 with Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke in attendance.

The college still operates today. It does not accept students nor issue degrees but offers around 140 free lectures each year.

Today it is located in the west of the City on Holborn at Barnard’s Inn Hall.