God's Clockmaker: Richard Of Wallingford And The Invention Of Time

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. Trained at Oxford, he became a monk and then abbot of the great abbey of St Albans, where he built his clock. 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, based on knowledge handed down from the Greeks via the Arabs.

John North is Professor Emeritus of History of Philosophy and the Exact Sciences, University of Groningen, the Netherlands and the author of numerous books including Stonehenge: A New Interpretation of Prehistoric Man and the Cosmos and The Ambassadors' Secret.

John North, Emeritus Professor of the History of Philosophy and the Exact Sciences, University of Groningen, The netherlands and Fellow of the British Academy.