robert hooke biography in english

Robert Hooke

(1635-1703)

Who Was Robert Hooke?

Scientist Robert Hooke was educated at Oxford and spent his career at the Royal Society and Gresham College. His research and experiments ranged from astronomy to biology to physics; he is particularly recognized for the observations he made while using a microscope and for "Hooke's Law" of elasticity. Hooke died in London in 1703.

Early Life and Education

Robert Hooke was born in the town of Freshwater, on England’s Isle of Wight, on July 18, 1635. His parents were John Hooke, who served as curate for the local church parish, and Cecily (née Gyles) Hooke.

Initially a sickly child, Hooke grew to be a quick learner who was interested in painting and adept at making mechanical toys and models. After his father’s death in 1648, the 13-year-old Hooke was sent to London to apprentice with painter Peter Lely. This connection turned out to be a short one, and he went instead to study at London’s Westminster School.

In 1653, Hooke enrolled at Oxford's Christ Church College, where he supplemented his meager funds by working as an assistant to the scientist Robert Boyle. While studying subjects ranging from astronomy to chemistry, Hooke also made influential friends, such as future architect Christopher Wren.

Teaching, Research and Other Occupations

Hooke was appointed curator of experiments for the newly formed Royal Society of London in 1662, a position he obtained with Boyle's support. Hooke became a fellow of the society in 1663.

Unlike many of the gentleman scientists he interacted with, Hooke required an income. In 1665, he accepted a position as professor of geometry at Gresham College in London. After the "Great Fire" destroyed much of London in 1666, Hooke became a city surveyor. Working with Wren, he assessed the damage and redesigned many of London’s streets and public buildings.

Major Discoveries and Achievements

A true polymath, the topics Hooke covered during his career include comets, the motion of light, the rotation of Jupiter, gravity, human memory and the properties of air. In all of his studies and demonstrations, he adhered to the scientific method of experimentation and observation. Hooke also utilized the most up-to-date instruments in his many projects.

Hooke’s most important publication was Micrographia , a 1665 volume documenting experiments he had made with a microscope. In this groundbreaking study, he coined the term "cell" while discussing the structure of cork. He also described flies, feathers and snowflakes, and correctly identified fossils as remnants of once-living things.

The 1678 publication of Hooke's Lectures of Spring shared his theory of elasticity; in what came to be known as "Hooke’s Law," he stated that the force required to extend or compress a spring is proportional to the distance of that extension or compression. In an ongoing, related project, Hooke worked for many years on the invention of a spring-regulated watch.

Personal Life and Death

Hooke never married. His niece, Grace Hooke, his longtime live-in companion and housekeeper, as well as his eventual lover, died in 1687; Hooke was inconsolable at the loss.

Hooke's career was marred by arguments with other prominent scientists. He often sparred with fellow Englishman Isaac Newton , including one 1686 dispute over Hooke’s possible influence on Newton’s famous book Principia Mathematica .

In his last year of life, Hooke suffered from symptoms that may have been caused by diabetes. He died at the age of 67 in London on March 3, 1703.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Robert Hooke
• Birth Year: 1635
• Birth date: July 18, 1635
• Birth City: Freshwater, Isle of Wight
• Birth Country: England
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Robert Hooke is known as a "Renaissance Man" of 17th century England for his work in the sciences, which covered areas such as astronomy, physics and biology.
• Education and Academia
• Journalism and Nonfiction
• Architecture
• Business and Industry
• Science and Medicine
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• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• Wadham College
• Death Year: 1703
• Death date: March 3, 1703
• Death City: London
• Death Country: England

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CITATION INFORMATION

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• Last Updated: June 22, 2020
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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Robert Hooke Biography (1635 - 1703)

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Robert Hooke was an important 17th century English scientist, perhaps best known for Hooke's Law, the invention of the compound microscope, and his cell theory. He was born July 18, 1635 in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, England, and died on March 3, 1703 in London, England at age 67. Here's a brief biography:

Robert Hooke's Claim to Fame

Hooke has been called the English Da Vinci. He is credited with numerous inventions and design improvements of scientific instrumentation. He was a natural philosopher who valued observation and experimentation. 

• He formulated Hooke's Law, a relation that says the force pulling back on a spring is inversely proportional to the distance pulled from rest.
• Assisted Robert Boyle by constructing his air pump.
• Hooke designed, improved or invented many scientific instruments used in the Seventeenth Century. Hooke was the first to replace pendulums in clocks with springs.
• He invented the compound microscope and Gregorian compound telescope. He is credited with the invention of the wheel barometer, hydrometer, and anemometer.
• He coined the term "cells" for biology.
• In his studies of paleontology, Hooke believed fossils were living remains that soaked up minerals, leading to petrification . He believed fossils held clues to the nature of the past on Earth and that some fossils were of extinct organisms. At the time, the concept of extinction was not accepted.
• He worked with Christopher Wren after the London Fire of 1666 as a surveyor and architect. Few of Hooke's buildings survive to the present day.
• Hooke served as The Royal Society's Curator of Experiments where he was required to perform several demonstrations at each weekly meeting. He held this position for forty years.

Notable Awards

• Fellow of Royal Society.
• The Hooke Medal is presented in his honor from the British Society of Cell Biologists.

Robert Hooke's Cell Theory

In 1665, Hooke used his primitive compound microscope to examine the structure in a slice of cork. He was able to see the honeycomb structure of cell walls from the plant matter, which was the only remaining tissue since the cells were dead. He coined the word "cell" to describe the tiny compartments he saw. This was a significant discovery because prior to this, no one knew organisms consisted of cells. Hooke's microscope offered a magnification of about 50x. The compound microscope opened up a whole new world to scientists and marked the beginning of the study of cell biology. In 1670, Anton van Leeuwenhoek , a Dutch biologist, first examined living cells using a compound microscope adapted from Hooke's design.

Newton - Hooke Controversy

Hooke and Isaac Newton were involved in a dispute over the idea of the force of gravity following an inverse square relationship to define the elliptical orbits of planets. Hooke and Newton discussed their ideas in letters to each other. When Newton published his Principia , he did not credit anything to Hooke. When Hooke disputed Newton's claims, Newton denied any wrong. The resulting feud between the leading English scientists of the time would continue until Hooke's death.

Newton became President of the Royal Society that same year and many of Hooke's collections and instruments went missing as well as the only known portrait of the man. As President, Newton was responsible for the items entrusted to the Society, but it was never shown he had any involvement in the loss of these items.

Interesting Trivia

• Craters on the Moon and Mars bear his name.
• Hooke proposed a mechanistic model of human memory, based on the belief memory was a physical process that occurred in the brain.
• British historian Allan Chapman refers to Hooke as "England's Leonardo," in reference to his similarity to Leonardo da Vinci as a polymath.
• There is no authenticated portrait of Robert Hooke. Contemporaries have described him as a lean man of average height, with gray eyes, brown hair.
• Hooke never married or had children.
• Chapman, Alan (1996). " England's Leonardo: Robert Hooke (1635–1703) and the art of experiment in Restoration England ". Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. 67: 239–275.
• Drake, Ellen Tan (1996).  Restless Genius: Robert Hooke and His Earthly Thoughts . Oxford University Press.
• Robert Hooke. Micrographia . Full text at Project Gutenberg.
• Robert Hooke (1705). The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke . Richard Waller, London.
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 MacTutor

Robert hooke.

Hooke was fortunate in gaining the respect of Dr Busby and being left to follow his own pursuits of knowledge just as he had before attending Westminster School.

... Hooke never took a bachelor's degree [ but ] Oxford had given him more than a thousand degrees could match.

... use of springs instead of gravity for making a body vibrate in any posture.

Before I went to bed I sat up till two o'clock in my chamber reading Mr Hooke's Microscopical Observations, the most ingenious book that ever I read in my life.

Micrographia remains one of the masterpieces of seventeenth century science. ... [ it ] presented not a systematic investigation of any one question, but a bouquet of observations with courses from the mineral, animal and vegetable kingdoms. Above all, the book suggested what the microscope could do for biological science.

Wren and Hooke dominated and guided the work, and cemented a friendship that lasted throughout their lives. To Hooke the position of surveyor was a financial boon, more than compensating for the uncertainty of his other income.

... of compounding the celestiall motions of the planetts of a direct motion by the tangent ( inertial motion ) and an attractive motion towards the centrall body ... my supposition is that the Attraction always is in a duplicate proportion to the Distance from the Center Reciprocall ...

He was a brisk walker, and enjoyed walking in the fields north of the City. ... he generally rose early, perhaps to save candles, and to work in daylight and prevent strain to his eyes. ... Sometimes Hooke would work all through the night, and then have a nap after dinner. As well as drinking a variety of waters ... he drank brandy, port, claret, sack, and birch juice wine which he found to be delicious. He also had a barrel of Flanstead's ale and Tillotson's ale. There are a few instances when he recorded that he had been drunk ... He was a gregarious person, who liked to meet people, particularly those who had travelled abroad ...

.. often troubled with headaches, giddiness, and fainting, and with a general decay all over, which hindered his philosophical studies, yet he still read some lectures whenever he was able.

[ Huygens ' Preface ] is concerning those properties of gravity which I myself first discovered and showed to this Society and years since, which of late Mr Newton has done me the favour to print and publish as his own inventions. And particularly that of the oval figure of the Earth which was read by me to this Society about 27 years since upon the occasion of the carrying the pendulum clocks to sea and at two other times since, though I have had the ill fortune not to be heard, and I conceive there are some present that may very well remember and do know that Mr Newton did not send up that addition to his book till some weeks after I had read and showed the experiments and demonstration thereof in this place and had answered the reproachful letter of Dr Wallis from Oxford. However I am well pleased to find that the truth will at length prevail when men have laid aside their prepossessions and prejudices. And as that hath found approvers in the world and those thinking men too, so I doubt not but that divers other discoveries which I have here first made ( when they come to be well considered and examined ) be found not so unreasonable or extravagant as some would willingly make them.

... lean, bent and ugly man ...

References ( show )

• R S Westfall, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography ( New York 1970 - 1990) . See THIS LINK .
• Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Hooke
• V I Arnol'd, Huygens and Barrow, Newton and Hooke. Pioneers in mathematical analysis and catastrophe theory from evolvents to quasicrystals ( Basel, 1990) .
• A N Bogolyubov, Robert Hooke 1635 - 1703 , Scientific-Biographic Literature 'Nauka' ( Moscow, 1984) .
• F F Centore, Robert Hooke's contributions to mechanics : a study in seventeenth century natural philosophy ( The Hague, 1970) .
• J G Crowther, Founders of British science : John Wilkins, Robert Boyle, John Ray, Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton ( London, 1960) .
• W Derham ( ed. ) , The Philosophical Works of Dr Robert Hooke ( London, 1726) .
• M Espinasse, Robert Hooke ( London, 1956) .
• M Hunter and S Schaffer ( eds. ) , Robert Hooke : new studies ( Eoodbridge, 1989) .
• R Nichols, The Diaries of Robert Hooke, The Leonardo of London, 1635 - 1703 ( Lewes, 1994) .
• R Waller ( ed. ) , The Postumous Works of Dr Robert Hooke ( London, 1705) .
• E N da C Andrade, Robert Hooke, Proc. Roy. Soc. London 201 A (1950) , 439 - 473 .
• J A Bennett, Robert Hooke as Mechanic and Natural Philosopher, Notes and Records of the Royal Society 35 (1980 - 1981) , 33 - 48 .
• J A Bennett, Hooke and Wren and the system of the world : some points towards an historical account, British J. Hist. Sci. 8 (1975) , 32 - 61 .
• A N Bogolyubov, Robert Hooke as a teacher of mathematics ( Russian ) , Istor.-Mat. Issled. 32 - 33 (1990) , 373 - 383 .
• C Dilworth, Boyle, Hooke and Newton : some aspects of scientific collaboration, Rend. Accad. Naz. Sci. XL Mem. Sci. Fis. Natur. (5) 9 (1985) , 329 - 331 .
• W N Edwards, Robert Hooke as a geologist and evolutionist, Nature 137 (1936) , 96 - 97 .
• M E Ehrlich, Mechanism and Activity in the Scientific Revolution : The Case of Robert Hooke, Annals of Science 52 (1995) , 127 - 152 .
• H Erlichson, Newton and Hooke on centripetal force motion, Centaurus 35 (1) (1992) , 46 - 63 .
• S R Filonovich, Astronomy in the work of Robert Hooke ( on the occasion of the 350 th anniversary of his birth ) ( Russian ) , Istor.-Astronom. Issled. 18 (1986) , 259 - 290 .
• O Gal, Producing knowledge in the workshop : Hooke's 'inflection' from optics to planetary motion, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 27 (2) (1996) , 181 - 205 .
• D C Goodman, Robert Hooke, 1635 - 1703 , in Late seventeenth century scientists ( Oxford, 1969) , 132 - 157 .
• P Gouk, The Role of Acoustics and Music Theory in the Scientific Work of Robert Hooke, Annals of Science 37 (1980) , 573 - 605 .
• A R Hall, Robert Hooke and horology, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 8 (1) (1950 - 51) , 167 - 177 .
• A R Hall, Beyond the fringe : diffraction as seen by Grimaldi, Fabri, Hooke and Newton, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 44 (1) (1990) , 13 - 23 .
• A R Hall, Two unpublished lectures of Robert Hooke, Isis 42 (1951) , 219 - 230 .
• A R Hall, Horology and criticism : Robert Hooke, in Studia Copernicana 16 - Science and history ( Ossolinskich, 1978) , 261 - 281 .
• M Hesse, Hooke's philosophical algebra, Isis 57 (1966) , 67 - 83 .
• M Hesse, Hooke's vibration theory and the isochrony of springs, Isis 57 (1966) , 433 - 441 .
• P E B Jourdain, Robert Hooke as a precursor of Newton, Monist 23 (1913) , 353 - 385 .
• J C Kassler and D R Oldroyd, Robert Hooke's Trinity College 'Musick Scripts', his music theory and the role of music in his cosmology, Ann. of Sci. 40 (6) (1983) , 559 - 595 .
• V S Kirsanov, The correspondence between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke : 1679 - 80 ( Russian ) , Voprosy Istor. Estestvoznan. i Tekhn. (4) (1996) , 3 - 39 , 173 .
• A Koyré, A note on Robert Hooke, Isis 41 (1950) , 195 - 196 .
• A Koyré, An unpublished letter of Robert Hooke to Isaac Newton, Isis 43 (1952) , 312 - 337 .
• R Lehti, Newton's road to classical dynamics. II. Robert Hooke's influence on Newton's dynamics ( Finnish ) , Arkhimedes 39 (1) (1987) , 18 - 51 .
• J Lohne, Hooke versus Newton : An analysis of the documents in the case on free fall and planetary motion, Centaurus 7 (1960) , 6 - 52 .
• W S Middleton, The Medical Aspect of Robert Hooke, Annals of Medical History 9 (1927) , 227 - 43 .
• H Nakajima, Two kinds of modification theory of light : some new observations on the Newton-Hooke controversy of 1672 concerning the nature of light, Ann. of Sci. 41 (3) (1984) 261 - 278 .
• M Nauenberg, Hooke, orbital dynamics and Newton's Principia, American Journal of Physics 62 (1994) , 331 - 350 .
• L D Patterson, Hooke's gravitation theory and its influence on Newton I, Isis 40 (1949) , 327 - 341 .
• L D Patterson, Hooke's gravitation theory and its influence on Newton II, Isis 41 (1950) , 23 - 45 .
• A P Rossiter, The first English geologist, Durham University Journal 27 (1935) , 172 - 181 .
• E G R Taylor, Robert Hooke and the Cartographical Projects of the Late Seventeenth Century, Geographical Journal 9 (1937) , 529 - 540 .
• R S Westfall, Hooke and the law of universal gravitation, British J. Hist. Sci. 3 (1967) , 245 - 261 .
• R S Westfall, The development of Newton's theory of colour, Isis 53 (1962) , 339 - 358 .

Additional Resources ( show )

Other pages about Robert Hooke:

• Aubrey's Brief Lives
• Multiple entries in The Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles ,
• Astronomy: The Dynamics of the Solar System
• Miller's postage stamps

Other websites about Robert Hooke:

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Robert Hooke home page
• The Galileo Project,
• Sci Hi blog
• Robert Hooke's London
• Mathematical Genealogy Project
• zbMATH entry

Honours ( show )

Honours awarded to Robert Hooke

• Fellow of the Royal Society 1663
• Lunar features Crater Hooke
• Biography in Aubrey's Brief Lives
• Lunar features Crater Hooke on Mars
• Popular biographies list Number 42

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Robert Hooke

Robert Hooke is known as a renowned philosopher and a scientist who made many innovations and discoveries that few were capable of doing during his time.

Hooke’s Early Years

Robert Hooke was born on July 28, 1635, on the Isle of Wright in England. His father was a pastor and it was believed that young Hooke would follow in those footsteps. However, Hooke became fascinated with the art of observation and mechanical works. He once took apart a clock to see how it worked and then built a replica of his own that was fully functional. He would also go on to teach himself how to draw and he was fairly skilled at it.

After his father’s death in 1648, Robert Hooke took his small inheritance and enrolled in the Westminster School. It was here that he focused mainly on the study of mechanics.

University Years

In 1653, he moved to Oxford where he worked as a chemist’s assistant. This experience contributed greatly to Hooke delving further into the sciences and his studies. At the time, there was some controversy with the Protectorate ruling class that took the biblical teachings literally and was often at odds with science.

Robert Hooke navigated his studies and observations around the powers that be to continue to make innovative new discoveries while also avoiding drawing the ire of those who could cause him troubles.

Hooke’s Timekeeping Observations

Throughout his life, it seems that Hooke would apply his understanding of mechanics in many different ways. One such means was through his observations of the pendulum and how to improve it. The insights he procured did not revolutionize the industry of timekeeping, but the insights he gained were certainly helpful. Any new methods or discoveries that could improve how a clock works were going to be helpful with the creation of new clocks.

Interestingly, his innovations in areas of the pendulum were rooted in a new interest in astronomy. He was able to come up with improvements on the pendulum based on his study of gravity. Hooke might not receive as much credit as he should for his work in the realm of timekeeping, but his insights can discoveries certainly have proven to be valuable.

The Royal Society

In 1660, the Royal Society was founded and it contributed greatly to the furtherance of the study of science. Hooke would become a member of the Royal Society. He had published a brilliant article in the Micrography Observer that covered the topic of gravity as it relates to rising water. His innovative new discoveries brought him many fans in the scientific community and he would go on and invest further exploration in the study of gravity.

Financial Success

Robert Hooke often did not get the credit his contemporaries acquired. This is not to say Hooke got nothing for his efforts. In terms of monetary compensation, Hooke did go on and become quite wealthy from his endeavors. He earned money in a number of ways from his endeavors.

He was able to publish a collection of his work in a volume entitled Micrographia , which covered his microscopy observations. In time, he went on to become a Gresham Professor of Geometry. World fame might not have been in the cards for him, but he was able to maintain a solid and successful career in his profession. Privately, he did complain that others who he felt were less deserving had garnered more notoriety in their field.

Hooke might have grown somewhat bitter over the years due to the various perceived slights he felt over the recognition he believed he deserved. As a result, he became somewhat difficult to deal with and extremely ill at ease about any criticism he might have had to face. As a result, he strained many friendships.

Hooke’s Final Days

Robert Hooke died in March of 1703 in London. In his living space was found a massive amount of money. He seemed to not have squandered a shilling. He left a legacy of great work in mechanics and the sciences and now maintains some of the fame that eluded him in life.

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Robert Hooke: The English Physicist and Natural Philosopher

Scientific contributions.

Robert Hooke was born on July 18, 1635, in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, to a family of a local church minister. He began his career by working for the renowned artist, P. Lely, and attending Westminster School. In 1653, Hooke enrolled at Christ Church College, Oxford University, where he became an assistant to Robert Boyle and collaborated with him on the development of the air pump. In 1662, he was appointed as the Curator of Experiments at the newly established Royal Society, and from 1677 to 1683, he served as its Secretary. Additionally, from 1665 onwards, he held the position of a professor at the University of London.

Hooke had a wide range of scientific interests, including heat, elasticity, optics, and celestial mechanics. He made numerous inventions during his career. In 1659, together with Robert Boyle, he improved Otto von Guericke's air pump. Around 1660, he collaborated with Christiaan Huygens to establish reference points on the thermometer scale - the temperatures of ice melting and water boiling. Hooke also enhanced the design of the barometer, invented a wind gauge, constructed a spiral spring for watches, and proposed a method for optical telegraphy. In 1665, he made significant improvements to the microscope and used it to conduct various studies. He observed thin layers, such as soap bubbles and oil films, in light beams, examined the structures of plants and the smallest details of living organisms, and introduced the concept of cellular structure (the term "cell" was coined by Hooke). In his work "Micrographia" (1665), he described the cells of elder, dill, and carrot, provided detailed illustrations of minute objects like the eye of a fly, mosquito, and its larva, and described the cellular structure of cork, a bee's wing, mold, and moss. In the same publication, he presented his theory of colors, explaining the coloring of thin layers through the reflection of light from their upper and lower boundaries. Hooke disagreed with Isaac Newton's corpuscular theory of light and proposed a hypothesis about the transverse nature of light waves. He believed that heat was a result of the movement of particles in matter. In 1674, he formulated the concept of gravity, and in 1680, anticipating Newton, he concluded that the force of gravity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance and that all planets must move in elliptical orbits. Hooke passed away in London on March 3, 1703.

© BIOGRAPHS

Biography of Robert Hooke

Robert Hooke was a seventeenth century scientist.

When and Where was he Born?

18th July 1635, Freshwater, Isle of White.

Family background:

Robert Hooke was the son of John Hooke, curate in charge of the parish of Freshwater.

Westminster School, London. Christ Church, Oxford.

Timeline of Robert Hooke

1648: Death of his father. Robert is sent to London for a trial with the painter Sir Peter Lely, but then moves to Westminster School, where the Headmaster Dr Richard Busby realises his genius.

1653:  Hooke takes a scholar’s place at Christ Church College, Oxford. He works as an assistant to John Wilkins, Warden of Wadham College, on flying machines. Wilkins was known as the leader of the Oxford Scientific Club. He also becomes friends with Christopher Wren .

1655: Hooke assists Robert Boyle on the construction of his air pump.

1658: He develops the circular pendulum in watches but refuses the terms of a patent which is suggested by Boyle and the discovery remains unknown for several years.

1660: He proposes “Hookes Law” which states that the force required to stretch an elastic material (such as a spring) is directly proportional to the distance of the extension or compression of the said material. He also invents the balance spring.

1661: Boyle works on capillary attraction.

1662:   He is appointed the first Curator of Experiments at the newly founded Royal Society of London but did not sit with the full members such as Robert Boyle , Christopher Wren , Wilkins and others, but as an employee.

1663: He is elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in June.

1664: Hooke is the first person to state that the planet Jupiter rotates. Sir John Cutler founds a lecture series for Hooke at a yearly salary of £50 and he delivers astronomical lectures at Gresham College, London as a locum for Dr Pope. He establishes the number of vibrations corresponding to musical notes.

1665: His major work “Micrographia” is published in January. He is created Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. By now he is a full member of the Royal Society and becomes the first salaried research assistant in Great Britain at a rate of £30 per year at Gresham. He lives in College buildings until the end of his days. There is a short break to escape the plague as he moves to Epsom, employed as an assistant to Dr Wilkins and Sir William Petty at Durdans, the home of the Earl of Berkeley

1666: Hooke gives a discourse on gravity at the Royal Society and suggests measuring its force by means of a pendulum. He also presents the first screw-divided quadrant, an anemometer, and a weather-clock (barometer).

1667: After the Great fire of London Hooke was appointed as City Surveyor and he designs the new Bethlehem Hospital (now Imperial War Museum) and Montague House amongst other buildings. He gives a lecture on earthquakes at the Royal Society.

1669: He works on the earliest attempts at at measuring the parallax of a fixed star.

1672: He publishes a paper on the diffraction of light which is in contradiction to Isaac Newton’s earlier lecture to the Royal Society.

1674: He writes “Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth” which outlines his ideas on gravity. He constructs the first Gregorian telescope.

1675: He is again in dispute with Newton and says that his Discourse on Colour was already contained within “Micrographia”. Newton finally claims originality but acknowledges the importance of the earlier work done by Hooke. Hooke allows Thomas Tompion to make some of his new watches.

1676: Hooke publishes the principles of spiral springs in “A Description of Helioscopes”. This starts a argument with the secretary of the Royal Society, Oldenburg whom Hooke accuses of being “a trafficker in intelligence”.

1677: Hooke forced to retract his remarks on Oldenburg and is appointed Secretary to the Royal Society of London on Oldenburg’s death.

1678: He anticipated Newton’s Law of Inverse Square in gravitation. He anticipated the discovery of the Steam Engine.

1679: A letter from Hooke to Newton encourages him to “resume his former thoughts concerning the Moon” but inclusion of this in Newton’s “Principia” leads to further protests from Hooke, so much so that Newton was to delay the publication of his work on “Optics” until after Hooke’s death.

1682: Hooke becomes increasingly paranoid and adopts a policy of secrecy to prevent infringement of his intellectual rights. He also gives up a Secretary to the Royal Society.

1684: Hooke is the first person to suggest a practical system for telegraphy.

1687: His niece Grace Hooke, whom he was intimate with in his youth dies and brings on a bout of depression.

1691: He is created Doctor of Physic at Doctors’ Commons which was a self-governing teaching body of practitioners of canon and civil law in London.

1693: He lectures on Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”.

1696: The Royal Society offer to pay for his experiments but by now his health is failing.

1700: Edmond Halley explains Robert Hooke’s last invention, a marine telescope, to the Royal Society.

1702: Hooke becomes blind.

When and Where did he Die?

3rd March 1703, London, England after being bedridden for the last year of his life.

Age at Death:

Written works:.

1665 : “Micrographia”. 1667: “Lectures of Spring”. 1674: “Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth”. 1676: “A Description of Helioscopes”. 1677: “Lampas, or a Description of some Mechanical Improvements of Lamps and Water-poises”.

Never married.

Site of Grave:

St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, City of London, England.

Places of Interest:

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE:

Parish Church at Willen designed for his old Headmaster.

Bethlehem Hospital (Now Imperial War Museum). Royal Society of London. Montague House.

Museum of the History of Science.

WARWICKSHIRE:

Ragley Hall (Designed by Hooke).