Thomas Sprat

author

Thomas Sprat

1635–1713

A lively Restoration churchman, poet, and prose stylist, he is best remembered for helping shape the public voice of early modern science through his history of the Royal Society. His career also carried him to two major church offices: dean of Westminster and bishop of Rochester.

1 Audiobook

The Plague of Athens, which hapned in the second year of the Peloponnesian Warre First described in Greek by Thucydides; then in Latin by Lucretius. Now attempted in English

The Plague of Athens, which hapned in the second year of the Peloponnesian Warre First described in Greek by Thucydides; then in Latin by Lucretius. Now attempted in English

by Thomas Sprat, Thomas Hobbes, Thucydides

About the author

Born in Dorset in 1635, Thomas Sprat was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he became part of the intellectual world that surrounded the early Royal Society. He wrote poetry as well as prose, and his friendships and literary connections helped place him among the notable writers of Restoration England.

Sprat’s most famous book is The History of the Royal Society (1667), an important early account of the new scientific culture taking shape in England. He is often remembered for promoting a clear, concise style of writing, and for presenting science as something practical, collaborative, and grounded in observation.

Alongside his literary work, Sprat built a prominent career in the Church of England, eventually serving as dean of Westminster and later bishop of Rochester. He died in 1713, leaving behind a reputation that links literature, religion, and the early history of modern science.