Lawrence Rooke was an English astronomer, mathematician, and natural philosopher. He is noted for his suggestion 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.
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.
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.
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.