Clocks became common in late medieval Europe and the measurement of time began to rule everyday life. God's Clockmaker is a biography of England's greatest medieval scientist, a man who solved major practical and theoretical problems to build an extraordinary and pioneering astronomical and astrological clock. Richard of Wallingford (1292-1336), the son of a blacksmith, was a brilliant mathematician with a genius for the practical solution of technical problems. Educated at Oxford, he became a monk and then abbot of the great abbey of St Albans. His clock there was the oldest mechanical one of which the details are known. Although as abbot he held great power, he was also a tragic figure, becoming a leper. His achievement, nevertheless, is a striking example of the sophistication of medieval science: while based on knowledge handed down from the Greeks via the Arabs, it was also capable of great originality.
Author Biography
John North is Emeritus Professor of the History of Philosophy and the Exact Sciences, University of Groningen, and Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of numerous books including The Ambassadors' Secret: Holbein and the World of the Renaissance and Stonehenge.
