20th October: Sir Christopher Wren

On this date in 1632 Sir Christopher Wren, English astronomer and architect, was born in East Knoyle, Wiltshire. He designed St Paul's Cathedral in London, but here are 10 things you may not know:

1. Sir Christopher Wren did not train as an architect as a person would now - the profession as we understand it today did not exist. Rather, it was a branch of applied mathematics, and something well educated gentlemen might take up as a hobby. When he first went to university in Oxford, Wren was studying Latin and Philosophy.
2. Wren studied, and performed experiments in several branches of science during his lifetime, including: building a transparent beehive to observe Bee behaviour; performed the first successful injection of a substance into the bloodstream of a Dog; made improvements in microscopes and telescopes; observed the Moon and Saturn; and experimented with finding longitude through magnetic variation.
3. As a schoolboy he was a heavy smoker and drinker.
4. He didn't marry until he was 37 years old. His first wife, Faith, died after just three years and two children. His second marriage, to Jane Fitzwilliam, was equally short - she, too died after about three years and two children. Wren never married again after that.
5. He was one of the illustrators for a pioneering anatomy textbook, Cerebri Anatome (1664) for which he provided anatomical drawings of the Brain. It was this book which first coined the term "neurology".
6. Wren submitted plans for rebuilding London after the Great fire to King Charles II, but they were never adopted.
7. He was an MP. He was elected Member of Parliament for Old Windsor three times - but never took his seat.
8. He is credited with the designs of 51 churches in London besides St Paul's, and also the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and the south front of Hampton Court Palace.
9. From 1657, he gave weekly lectures on Latin and English in London. Some of his colleagues from his former job in Oxford used to attend the lectures and they would all meet up afterwards for scientific discussions. These meetings eventually evolved into the Royal Society.
10. He is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. His son wrote his epitaph, which reads (in Latin) "Here in its foundations lies the architect of this church and city, Christopher Wren, who lived beyond ninety years, not for his own profit but for the public good. Reader, if you seek his monument – look around you. Died 25 Feb. 1723, age 91."