Richard of Wallingford

Richard of Wallingford (* 1292, † 1336 ) was an English mathematician who made ​​great contributions to astronomy, astrology and horology delivered while he served as abbot of the Abbey of St Albans in Hertfordshire.

He was born in Wallingford in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire ), the son of a blacksmith. When he was an orphan, he was brought to William de Kirkeby, the Prior of Wallingford. Richard then studied six years at the University of Oxford before he became a monk at St Albans. Later he studied for nine years at Oxford. In 1326 he became abbot of St Albans.

Richard of Wallingford is known for the constructed by him Astronomical clock, which is described in the Tractatus Horologii astronomici ( 1327 ). The clock was completed about twenty years after his death by William of Walsham. About two hundred years later ( 1539) it was during the dispute of Henry VIII with the Catholic Church, the English Reformation and the so-called subsequent dissolution of the English monasteries, destroyed. His clock was certainly the most complex watch mechanism that existed at that time in the British Isles and one of the most advanced watches around the world. It was characterized by a 24 - hour circle on the dial as well as the graphical display of the moon and sun during the night or the day. The only other documented, watches similar mechanism to the 14th century with comparable complexity, is the " Astrarium " by Giovanni de Dondi. Various watches historian of the 20th century have attempted based on the traditions of the 14th century to build a replica of the clock. The best known of these replicas was issued many years now-closed Time Museum in Rockford, Illinois; Another was built by watchmaker Eric Watson and is now in the local museum of Wallingford ( Wallingford Museum ), and a third, built in 1988, located in the Abbey of St Albans.

Richard of Wallingford designed and constructed a calculating machine, known as Equitorium, which he himself called Albion. With their help, you could astronomical calculations to perform, determine geographic lengths of moon, sun and planets and calculated in advance occultations. The machine is described in the Tractatus Albionis. He also published other works on trigonometry, stellar coordinates, astrology and various religious works.

Richard suffered from a disease that was held in his time for leprosy ( even if it was possibly syphilis, scrofula or tuberculosis ), which he concealed obviously, when he was appointed by the pope to the abbot in Avignon. He died in St Albans.

Swell

• John David North: God's Clockmaker: Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time. Oxbow Books, 2004. ISBN 1852854510th
• John David North: Richard of Wallingford. Volume I -III. Oxford University Press. 1976 ISBN. 0,198,581,394th
• E. Watson: The St Albans Clock of Richard of Wallingford. Antiquarian Horology, Number 4, Volume 11, 1979, p. 372-384.
• Www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk Astronomical Clock
• Www.nicholaswhyte.info Nicholas Whyte: The Astronomical Clock of Richard of Wallingford ( Essay, English)