Full name: Sir Christopher Wren Born: 20th October 1632 Invention/Achievement: Redesigning and rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666  Date of introduction/Achievement: 1669  Died: 25th February 1723

Inscribed in a circle of black marble on the main floor of St Paul's Cathedral is an inscription in memory of the architect, Sir Christopher Wren.  In Latin, it ends: "LECTOR SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS CIRCUMSPICE" ("Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you"),  And what a monument!

St Paul's Cathedral is the masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren's life work, but there are many other monuments to his genius, in London and elsewhere.  

Wren was born in 1632, the son of the rector of East Knoyle, Wiltshire.  Later he moved with his father, who had become Dean of Windsor.  He attended Westminster School, where he showed talent for drawing, science and mathematics.  He went up to Wadham College Oxford, where he became part of a brilliant group of students who later formed the nucleus of the Royal Society.  

In 1661 Wren became professor of astronomy at Oxford and in 1662 was a founder member of the Royal Society.  His interest in art, engineering and physics led him into architecture and he prepared proposals for a new St Paul's Cathedral.  Shortly afterwards, the cathedral, together with much of the City of London, burned down in the great fire of 1666.  

Wren's ambitious plans were rejected due to opposition from land owners, yet Wren was to be responsible for the design and construction of more than 50 churches in the City.  

On 30^th July 1669 he was officially appointed to design a replacement for the old St Paul's Cathedral.  The design took Wren several years and the building many more.  The Cathedral was consecrated for use on 2^nd December 1697, with the "topping out" (that is, the laying of the final stone in the Lantern) being completed on 26^th October 1708.  It was declared officially complete by Parliament on Christmas Day 1711, although further construction, such as adding statues to the roof, continued into the 1720s.  

Wren was responsible for many other notable buildings during his lifetime, including the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, Trinity College Library at Cambridge University and the façade of Hampton Court Palace.  He died in 1723, from a chill caught on a visit to St Paul's.