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Robert Hooke, FRS (July 18, 1635 – March 3, 1703) was an English polymath who played an important role in the scientific revolution, through both experimental and theoretical work.

Early life

Robert Hooke was fascinated by the sciences, particularly biology, from his early childhood. His father was John Hooke, curate of the Church of All Saints, Freshwater. Like his three other brothers (all ministers), Robert was expected to succeed in his education and join his father's church. However, Hooke continually suffered from headaches whilst studying. His parents, fearing he would not reach adulthood, decided to give up on his education and leave him to his own devices.

Born in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, Hooke received his early education on the Isle of Wight and, from about the age of 13, at Westminster School under Dr. Busby. In 1653, Hooke secured a chorister's place at Christ Church, Oxford. There he met the chemist (and physicist) Robert Boyle, and gained employment as his assistant. It is possible that Hooke formally stated Boyle's Law, as Boyle was not a mathematician.

Career

In 1660, he discovered Hooke's law of elasticity, which describes the linear variation of tension with extension in an elastic spring. In 1662, Hooke gained appointment as Curator of Experiments to the newly founded Royal Society, and took responsibility for experiments performed at its meetings.

In 1665 he published a book entitled Micrographia which contained a number of microscopic and telescopic observations, and some original observations in biology. Hooke coined the biological term cell, so called because his observations of plant cells reminded him of monks' cells which were called "cellula." He is often credited with the discovery of the cell, although his microscope was very basic. Hooke's design was used by the Dutchman Anton van Leeuwenhoek, described as the father of microbiology.

The hand-crafted, leather and gold-tooled microscope that Hooke used to make the observations for "Micrographia," originally made by Christopher Cock in London, is on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, DC. Also in 1665 he gained appointment as Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. Hooke also achieved fame as Surveyor to the City of London and chief assistant of Christopher Wren, helping to rebuild London after the Great Fire in 1666. He worked on designing the Monument, Royal Greenwich Observatory and the infamous Bethlem Royal Hospital (which became known as 'Bedlam').

Death

He died in London on 3 March 1703 (ns). He amassed a sizeable sum of money during his career in London, which was found in his room at Gresham College after his death. He never married.

No portrait

It seems that no authenticated portrait of him survives. Newton instigated the removal of Hooke's portrait in the Royal Society. In 2003, the historian Lisa Jardine claimed a recently discovered portrait represents Robert Hooke. However, Prof. Jardine's hypothesis was soon disproved by Prof. William Jensen (University of Cincinnati) and independently by the German researcher Andreas Pechtl (Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz). Actually, the portrait depicts Jan Baptist van Helmont. A seal used by Hooke displays an unusual profile portrait of a man's head, that some have argued portrays Hooke. Both these claims remain in dispute, however. Moreover, the engraved frontispiece to the 1728 edition of Chambers' Cyclopedia shows as an interesting detail a bust of Robert Hooke.

Hooke the architect

Robert Hooke was an important architect. He was the official London Surveyor after the Great Fire of 1666, surveying about half the plots in the city. As well as the Bethlem Royal Hospital, other buildings designed by Hooke include: The Royal College of Physicians (1679); Ragley Hall in Warwickshire; and the parish church at Willen, Milton Keynes (historical Buckinghamshire).

Hooke's collaboration with Christopher Wren was particularly fruitful and yielded The Royal Observatory at Greenwich, The Monument (to the Great Fire) and St Paul's Cathedral, whose dome uses a method of construction conceived by Hooke.

In the reconstruction after the Great Fire, Hooke proposed redesigning London's streets on a grid pattern with wide boulevards and arteries (a pattern subsequently used in the renovation of Paris, Liverpool and many American cities), but was prevented by problems over property rights. Many property owners were surreptitiously shifting their boundaries and disputes were rife. (Hooke was in demand to use his competence as a surveyor and tact as an arbitrator to settle many of these disputes.) So London was rebuilt along the original mediaeval streets. It is interesting to note that much of the modern-day curse of congestion in London has its origin in these petty disputes of the 17th century.

Books

• The Man Who Knew Too Much, Stephen Inwood, Pan Books, 2002. ISBN 0-330-48829-5. (Published in the USA as The Forgotten Genius)
• Early Science in Oxford vol vii, Dr. R. T. Gunther, ed., privately printed, 1923-67.
• Robert Hooke, Margaret 'Espinasse. William Heinemann Ltd, 1956.
• The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man who Measured London, Lisa Jardine. Harper Collins Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-00-714944-1.
• London's Leonardo: The Life and Work of Robert Hooke, Jim Bennett, Michael Cooper, Michael Hunter and Lisa Jardine. Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-852579-6.
• England's Leonardo: Robert Hooke and the Seventeenth-century Scientific Revolution, Allan Chapman. Institute of Physics Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-7503-0987-3.
• Robert Hooke and the English Renaissance, Allan Chapman and Paul Kent (editors). Gracewing, 2005. ISBN 0-85244-587-3.
• Hooke, Robert (1635-1703). Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon...

Commemorations

Two craters, on the Moon and Mars were named in his honour.

See also

• List of astronomical instrument makers
• The Boyle-Hooke plaque in Oxford

References

External links

• Website dedicated to Hooke, hosted by Westminster School
• Works by Robert Hooke at Project Gutenberg
• Hooke Timeline
• England's Leonardo lecture on Robert Hooke
• Engraved bust of Robert Hooke
• Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke
• Lost manuscript of Robert Hooke discovered — from The Guardian
• Exploring our archives, a blog by researchers at the Royal Society exploring Hooke's lost manuscript

• English inventors
• English physicists
• English architects
• Fellows of the Royal Society
• Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
• Old Westminsters
• English Anglicans
• People from London
• People from the Isle of Wight
• 1635 births
• 1703 deaths
• People with craters of the Moon named after them