Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723) was the English scientist who became the architect of rebuilt London. A sickly child who lived past ninety, he taught in London, where the circle around his lectures grew into the Royal Society in 1660, and was its president in 1680–1682. An orbit problem he set Halley and Hooke sent Halley to Newton, producing the Principia.

In 1665 he designed a dome for old St Paul's, accepted a week before the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed two-thirds of the City. His plan was never adopted, but as Surveyor of the King's Works from 1669 he oversaw more than fifty rebuilt churches, and he was knighted in 1673.

St Paul's took thirty-six years and was declared complete by Parliament in 1711. He died in his sleep in 1723 and was buried in the crypt, where his inscription tells seekers of his monument to look around.