Poetry, maths and the Milky Way: the unsung genius of Thomas Wright

What do deer shelters, cosmic theories and serpentine garden paths have in common? 

The brilliant (but often overlooked) mind of Thomas Wright of Durham. This week on The English Heritage Podcast, Amy Matthews explores the life and work of an Enlightenment polymath who rose from carpenter’s son to mathematician, stargazer and garden visionary.  

Biographer Simon Webb and historian Dr Andrew Hann explain how this brilliant and influential mind blended poetry, physics, myth and maths to shape ideas about garden designs, buildings and even the structure of the Milky Way. 

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