Wren Foundation
Grant
The Wren Foundation is the first organisation in more than 300 years to celebrate Sir Christopher Wren’s life and polymathic achievements.
Summary
The Foundation’s funds will support scholarship, innovations, events and ideas that transcend boundaries of science, the arts and humanities.
Funds will also be used to support Wren 400™. This is the programme of national and international celebrations in 2032 marking the 400th anniversary of Wren’s birth. The Foundation will assist the plans and projects of individuals, communities, schools and cultural and scientific institutions.
More detail
The Foundation enjoys widespread support from leading figures and organisations in science, design, architecture, business, technology, culture, scholarship and innovation.
In our age of specialisation Wren points a way back to the virtues of a wide education. The scientific community may be astonished by Wren’s first thirty years of experimental discovery but it has lacked curiosity into the complex physics of Wren’s constructions. Conversely, the architectural community may be in awe of Wren’s astounding output of buildings while it largely overlooks his scientific pursuits.
These apparently separate activities are actually indivisible facets of one of the most extraordinary minds of the seventeenth century: the mind of Sir Christopher Wren. In the new age of artificial intelligence, notions of ‘author’ and ‘inventor’ may be contested. ‘Original’ and ‘copy’ are harder to distinguish, while interpretations of ‘authentic’ and ‘fake’ pose ethical challenges. Wren, by contrast, is an authentic figure and, so far as is known, one of fearless integrity.
The Wren Foundation promotes public education by reminding us that great strides in knowledge have been made by singular and often polymathic individuals like Wren. In an analogue age, he was led by personal, fundamental curiosity; he collaborated with others where necessary; he was driven both by private ambition and a desire for the public good. The Wren Foundation has been established in the belief that such qualities still matter.
