
God's Clockmaker
Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time
John North(Author)
Hambledon Continuum (Publisher)
Published on 15. November 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
464 pages
978-1-85285-571-0 (ISBN)
Description
Clocks became common in late medieval Europe and the measurement of time began to rule everyday life. "God's Clockmaker: Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time" 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.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrations
80
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
699 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85285-571-0 (9781852855710)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2010
1st Edition
Hambledon Continuum
€105.99
Available for download

E-Book
11/2006
1st Edition
Hambledon Continuum
€105.99
Available for download
Person
John North, Emeritus Professor of the History of Philosophy and the Exact Sciences, University of Groningen, Fellow of the British Academy.
Content
Illustrations; PART ONE: Foundations; 1 Eclipse; 2 The Black Monks; 3 Wallingford; 4 Oxford; 5 An Astronomer Among Theologians; 6 The State of the Kingdom; PART TWO: An Abbot's Rule; 7 A New Abbot; 8 Reprove, Persuade, Rebuke; 9 The Visitor Visited; 10 The Litigious Abbot; PART THREE: Time and the Man; 11 Builders and Clockmakers; 12 Horologe and History; 13 The St Albans Clock; 14 Machina Mundi; 15 Legacy; PART FOUR: The Springs of Western Science; 16 The Migration of Ideas; 17 A Primer in Aristotelian Natural Philosophy; 18 Natural Philosophy in Oxford; 19 The Astronomers. 20 The Astrologers; 21 Instruments of Thought; 22 Albion; 23 Epilogue; Notes; Bibliography; Index.