Lawrence Rooke

Background

Lawrence Rooke was born on March 23, 1622, in Deptford, London, England. He was the eldest son of George Rooke of Monkshorton, Kent, by his wife Mary, daughter of William Burrell of Poplar, Middlesex, and niece of Lancelot Andrewes, bishop of Winchester. Sir William Rooke (1624–1691), father of Sir George Rooke the admiral, was Lawrence's younger brother.

Education

Rooke was educated at Eton and at King’s College, Cambridge, receiving the Bachelor of Arts in 1643 and the Master of Arts in 1647.

Career

In 1650 Rooke became a fellow-commoner of Wadham College, Oxford, in order to enjoy the company and instruction of John Wilkins, Seth Ward, and the circle of virtuosi gathered about them. While at Oxford he occasionally assisted Robert Boyle in his chemical experiments. In 1652 Rooke was named professor of astronomy at Gresham College in London, exchanging his position in 1657 for the professorship of geometry.

After 1658 many of his Oxford associates joined him at regular meetings in his and Christopher Wren’s rooms after their respective weekly Gresham lectures. It was in his room that the organization was founded that, shortly after his death, became the Royal Society.

Rooke observed the comet of 1652 and performed a series of experiments with Wren on the collision of elastic bodies and, with Jonathan Goddard, on the effect of radiant heat on oil in a tube. His interest in practical maritime problems led him to draw up a list of systematic observations to be made by seamen that would be useful for the improvement of navigation. To help solve the problem of determining longitude at sea, he undertook a series of observations of the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites and proposed the systematic telescopic observation of lunar eclipses.

Rooke suggested that several of Hevelius’ lunar landmarks be accepted as a general standard against which to measure the position of the earth’s shadow and that the altitudes of certain especially bright stars be taken as a standard measure of time for the observations.

Achievements

• Rooke was widely known as a learned, industrious scholar by contemporaries. Rooke’s primary astronomical contributions are of observational, practical importance. His careful observations of cometary paths and his research on determining longitude at sea by observing lunar eclipses and the satellites of Jupiter exemplify Rooke’s support for the “new philosophy”.
  
  Also, Rooke made divers experiments before the Royal Society to verify with Wren on the collision of elastic bodies and on the effect of radiant heat on oil in a tube.
  
  He made a series of successful observations of the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites and proposed the systematic telescopic observation of lunar eclipses. He also solved the problem of determining longitude at sea.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 1666

Views

Although universally esteemed for the breadth and solidity of his learning, Rooke wrote no systematic treatises and his work was primarily empirical and practical.

Membership

Rooke was a member and one of the founders of the Royal Society of London.

• 

  Royal Society of London , United Kingdom

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Through his entire life, Rooke was a valetudinarian and died from a malignant internal fever, on the very night (26–7 June 1662) he had expected to make the last of a series of observations on Jupiter's satellite.

Quotes from others about the person

• According to Walter Pope, Rooke was "the greatest man in England for solid learning,’ and was ‘profoundly skilled in all sorts of learning, not excepting botanics and music, and the abstrusest points of divinity,’ though astronomy was his favorite study."

Interests

• music, botany

Connections

Rooke married Barbara, daughter of Sir Peter Heyman of Somerfield, Kent. By her, he had four daughters and five sons, of whom Heyman Rooke, born in February 1653, became a major-general, and died on 9 January 1724–5. His son James married Lady Mary Tudor.

Father:

George Rooke

Mother:

Mary Burrell

nephew:

George Rooke

1650 – 24 January 1709, Rooke commanded the unsuccessful allied expedition against Cádiz but on the passage home he destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet at the Battle of Vigo Bay in the opening stages of the War of the Spanish Succession. He also commanded the allied naval forces at the capture of Gibraltar and attacked the French fleet at the Battle of Málaga.

Brother:

William Rooke

1624–1691

Wife:

Barbara Heyman

Son:

Heyman Rooke

1653-1724–5

Son:

James Rooke

collaborator:

Christopher Wren

colleague:

Robert Boyle

References

• The Lives of the Professors of Gresham College
  1740
• Notes and Records Royal Society of London
  1960
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography Volume 11
  1975