GoKawiilMedieval scholar Nicole Oresme likened celestial motion to a mechanical clock in 1377 text
In his 1377 French commentary on Aristotle's On the Heavens, theologian Nicole Oresme compared the regular motion of the heavens to a self-running mechanical clock set in motion by God, rather than relying on Aristotle's idea of souls or intelligences guiding the spheres. However, Oresme also wrote that God may have appointed angels to continue moving the heavens, complicating any straightforward reading of his clock analogy as a precursor to later 'clockmaker God' deism.