Research on Wren Home Wren Biography Career Links   Martin Centre   Email		Academic Career As Summerson observed, had Wren died at the age of thirty he would still have been remembered but his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography would have only listed his work as a scientist and a mathematician. His genius in these fields was exemplified by Newton's inclusion of his name, along with those of John Wallis and Christian Huygens, in a list of the three greatest geometers of the age. This page looks briefly at the various academic appointments and achievements that followed his graduation from Wadham with a BA degree in March 1650/1. For his earlier education see personal life. Official Appointments Fellow of All Souls (1653-1673) A Fellowship of All Souls was, and remains today, one of the most sought after academic honours in the English-speaking world. The college is unique in Oxford and Cambridge in not accepting undergraduates. Fellows in Wren's day, as today, were provided with rooms and a stipend and were free from all teaching responsibilities to pursue their research. Wren continued to keep a room in All Souls when he took up his Professorship at Gresham (he did not as is sometimes stated resign his Fellowship at that point) and throughout his Savilian Professorship. His connections with the College after that, if any, are unclear. Gresham Professor of Astronomy(1657-1661) Gresham College was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham in the late sixteenth century to provide adult education in the City of London. It still exists today. Its original premises, just off Bishopsgate, were laid out like an Oxbridge court with rooms around a central space. Each Professor was provided with a set of rooms and a stipend and required to give weekly lectures in both Latin and English to all who wished to attend. A group of academics whom Wren had known since his early days at Wadham regularly met in Wren's rooms and it was after one of Wren's lectures that together they decided to found the Royal Society. Savilian Professor of Astronomy Oxford(1661-1673) Wren was 29 and already regarded as one of the foremost scientists of his day. His fame was not yet eclipsed by Newton, who was still an undergraduate and whose great works belonged to the decades ahead. From 1661 until 1668 Wren's life was based in Oxford, although the Royal Society meant that he had to make occasional trips to London and in 1665 he spent much of the year travelling on the continent to escape the plague. From 1668 onwards, however, Wren began to spend less time in Oxford and more in London (see his architectural career) and had to be continually reminded of his teaching responsibilities. Finally in 1673 he gave up the professorship. Wren's reluctance to resign is indicative of his high regard for academia, despite the fact that other responsibilities were increasingly directing his career outside it. Academic and other Honours Fellow of the Royal Society (1660-1723) As mentioned above, Wren was a founding member of the Society. His other duties meant that his attendance was patchy. D.C.L (Oxford, 1661) Doctorate in recognition of his scientific work and his new position as Savilian Professor. L.L.D (Cambridge, 1661). Doctorate in recognition of his scientific work and his new position as Savilian Professor. Knighthood (14 November 1673) Bestowed after his resignation from the Savilian chair, by which time he had already begun to make his mark as an architect (see his architectural career) both in services to the Crown and in playing an important part in rebuilding London after the Great Fire. President of the Royal Society(1680-82) For more information on Wren see Professional Career, scientific work and buildings James Campbell October 2000