His Invention So Fertile by Adrian Tinniswood
This portrait of Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the great British architect, aims to show us the man behind the legend. Wren was a founder of the Royal Society, he mapped the moon and the stars, investigated the problem of longitude and the rings of Saturn, and carried out groundbreaking experiments into the circulation of the blood. His observations on comets, meteorology and muscular action made vital contributions to the developing ideas of Newton, Halley and Boyle. This book presents a complete picture of this genius: the Surveyor of the King's Works, running the nation's biggest architectural office and wrestling with corruption and interference; the pioneering anatomist; the mathematician, devising new navigational instruments and lecturing on planetary motion. But this biography also shows us the man behind the legend: Wren was married and widowed twice; he fathered a mentally handicapped child; he quarrelled with his colleagues and fell foul of his employers; he scrambled over building sites and went to the theatre and drank in coffee-houses. This book explores what it was like to be at Oxford during the Commonwealth, as a generation struggled to make sense of a society in chaos; it recreates the tensions which tore apart the court of Charles II; and it sets out to bring to life the petty jealousies that formed an integral part of both the building world and the scientific milieu of the Royal Society.
Adrian Tinniswood is senior research fellow in history at the University of Buckingham and the author of the forthcoming Behind the Throne as well as New York Times bestselling The Long Weekend and The Verneys, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. Tinniswood has contributed to the London Times, the New York Times, History Today, BBC History Magazine, and The Literary Review, as well as television and radio programs in the US and UK. He was awarded an OBE for services to heritage by her majesty, the Queen, and lives in Bath, England.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780224042987 |
| ISBN 10 | 022404298X |
| Title | His Invention So Fertile |
| Author | Adrian Tinniswood |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2001-07-12 |
| Number of pages | 448 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |