ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Christopher Wren, architect and mathematician, who died on 8thMarch 1723 and was buried in the Cathedral of St Paul in London on 16thMarch, the cathedral that he designed following the 1666 Great Fire of London. Wren made some mathematical discoveries that were not to be applied in London or any other cityscape for centuries to come. One is a geometrical object bound by a curved surface, called cylindrical hyperboloid, which has often been employed in modern architecture. Wren worked in architecture, discovered new mathematics, and was an accomplished astronomer. To a modern person this range of activity and knowledge may appear at first very broad. Wren attempted to come up with its mathematical description but was unable to do so. A useful and never underused architectural and engineering skill came handy too: He realized that a very close approximation may be almost as good as the real thing.
