The 2012 Olympic mascots
Dee's mission, said the historian, was to find a unifying principle, a theory of everything which united ideas of Arabic algebra - infusing into Europe from the Muslim conquest of Spain - as well as astrology, mysticism and the wisdom of ancient traditions being unearthed by Renaissance scholars.
His belief was that a universal language could be found, the language of God and the builders of the Tower of Babel, "a language that would embody the truth of the Universe", Mr Woolley said.
He designed a hieroglyph, the Monas Hieroglyphica, which embodied this unifying principle - the astrological symbols united in one form.