The Tudor Society
  • June 23 – Mathematician and physician Thomas Hood

    A silhouette of a man's side profile

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd June 1556, mathematician and physician Thomas Hood was baptised at St Leonard Eastcheap.

    In 1588, Hood was invited to become Mathematical Lecturer to the City of London after Elizabeth I’s privy council decided, following the Spanish Armada, that military officers and naval commanders should have a better knowledge of mathematics. He lectured until 1592.

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  • June 23 – Levina Teerlinc amd her miniatures, and a Tudor doctor and mathematician

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd June 1576, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, painter and miniaturist Levina Teerlinc died at Stepney in London.

    Teerlinc was court painter to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, and was a prolific artist.

    Find out more about her and her work…

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  • 23 June – A doctor and mathematician

    23rd June is the anniversary of the baptism of Thomas Hood, a Tudor doctor and mathematician, on 23rd June 1556, in the reign of Mary I.

    Find out about this talented Tudor man in this edition of #TudorHistoryShorts...

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  • Thomas Hood (1556-1620)

    Thomas Hood, the mathematician and physician, was baptised on this day in history, 23rd June 1556, at St Leonard Eastcheap. It was usual for children to be baptised within a few days of birth so he was also born in June 1556. His father was merchant taylor Thomas Hood.

    Hood was educated at the Merchant Taylor’s School and then Trinity College, Cambridge, gaining his BA in c.1578 and his MA in 1581. In 1585, he was granted a licence to practise medicine by Cambridge University. In late 1588, he became Mathematical Lecturer to the City of London and he lectured on the subject until 1592. His biographer, H.K. Higton, writes of how “In the aftermath of the Spanish armada of 1588, concern for a greater knowledge of the mathematical sciences among military officers and naval commanders was voiced by members of the privy council” and that was the reason Hood was employed to lecture on mathematics.

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