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. Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show. Join English Heritage: ⁠ Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.* Support our work: ⁠ The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales. *Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to Poetry, maths and the Milky Way: the unsung genius of Thomas Wright online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Poetry, maths and the Milky Way: the unsung genius of Thomas Wright is an episode from The English Heritage Podcast by English Heritage.

This episode is 49:04 long.

This episode was published on Feb 26, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The English Heritage Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.