WREN, SIR CHRISTOPHER

born Oct. 20, 1632, East Knoyle, Wiltshire, Eng. died Feb. 25, 1723, London designer, astronomer, geometrician, and the greatest English architect of his time. Wren designed 53 London churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral, as well as many secular buildings of note. He was a founder of the Royal Society (president 168082), and his scientific work was highly regarded by Sir Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal. He was knighted in 1673. Additional reading An early biographical source is by his son, Christopher Wren, Parentalia: or, Memoirs of the Family of the Wrens (1750, reissued 1965), also available in a condensed version, Life and Works of Sir Christopher Wren, ed. by Ernest J. Enthoven (1903). Modern illustrated studies of Wren's life and works include Eduard F. Sekler, Wren and His Place in European Architecture (1956); John Summerson, Sir Christopher Wren (1953, reissued 1965), which deals more fully than most books with the scientific aspects; Margaret Whinney, Christopher Wren (1971; also published as Wren, 1971, reprinted 1985); Kerry Downes, The Architecture of Wren (1982), and Sir Christopher Wren (1987), a catalog of Wren's 220 drawings for St. Paul's Cathedral; Geoffrey Beard and Anthony Kersting, The Work of Christopher Wren (1982), with more than 200 illustrations; J.A. Bennett, The Mathematical Science of Christopher Wren (1982), discussing Wren's early career as a scientist; and Paul Jeffery, The City Churches of Sir Christopher Wren (1996), a survey of Wren's surviving London churches.