God's clockmaker : Richard of Wallingford and the invention of time / John North.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

North, John David.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Richard, of Wallingford, 1292-1336.

Richard.

Astronomers--Great Britain--Biography.

Astronomers.

Clocks and watches.

History.

Clock and watch making.

Clock and watch makers.

Great Britain.

Clock and watch makers--Great Britain--Biography.

Clock and watch making--Great Britain--History--To 1500.

Clocks and watches--Great Britain--History--To 1500.

Time.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvii, 441 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Hambledon and London, 2005.

Summary:

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.>

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1852854510

OCLC:

59876681