Christopher Wren

English architect and scientist who rebuilt London after the Great Fire (1666) — designing 52 churches including St Paul's Cathedral — and was one of the founding members of the Royal Society.

The rebuilding of London: Wren designed or contributed to 52 of London's churches after the Great Fire, most significantly St Paul's Cathedral (completed 1710). His scientific career (professor of astronomy at Oxford at 29, pioneering work in optics, mechanics, and meteorology) preceded his architectural career — he approached architecture with a scientist's structural understanding. St Paul's dome is a structural engineering masterpiece: Wren invented a hidden brick cone structure between the inner and outer domes to support the outer dome's weight, solving a structural problem that had defeated Italian predecessors.