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.
- ISBN10 1852855711
- ISBN13 9781852855710
- Publish Date 15 November 2006 (first published 13 January 2005)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint Hambledon Continuum
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 464
- Language English