As no contemporary portrait of Robert Hooke seems to have survived from the seventeenth century, this one is a reconstruction from the descriptions by his colleagues Aubrey and Waller. It shows him with a spring, pocket watch, fossil, and map of the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666. He helped to survey and plan the rebuilding. The sky on the left indicates his interest in astronomy.
School period
Gallery of Robert Hooke
Deans Yard, 17A, London SW1P 3PB, United Kingdom
Robert Hooke studied at Westminster School.
College/University
Gallery of Robert Hooke
St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1DP, United Kingdom
Robert Hooke studied at Christ Church College, Oxford.
Career
Achievements
Membership
Royal Society
1662 - 1703
Robert Hooke was one of the first members of the Royal Society.
Micrographia or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies
(Originally published in 1665, Micrographia is the most fa...)
Originally published in 1665, Micrographia is the most famous and influential work of English scholar Robert Hooke, a notable member of the Royal Society and the scientist for whom Hooke's Law of elasticity is named. Here, Hooke describes his observations of various household and biological specimens, such as the eye of a fly and the structure of plants, and became the first person to use the term cell in biology, as the cells in plants reminded him of monk's living quarters. In addition to his studies using a microscope, Hooke also discusses the heavenly bodies as visible through a telescope. Students of science and the history of science will find Hooke's early forays into biology and optics a good primer for further learning.
Robert Hooke was an English physicist who discovered the law of elasticity, known as Hooke’s law. He did research in a remarkable variety of fields.
Background
Robert Hooke was born on July 18, 1635, on Freshwater, Isle of Wight, England, to the family of John Hooke and Cecily Gyles. His father was a curate at All Saints Church in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. Although formally a curate, since the minister was also Dean of Gloucester Cathedral and of Wells, John Hooke was left in charge of All Saints. It was a well off church being in the patronage of St John's College, Cambridge. As well as his duties in the church, John Hooke also ran a small school attached to the church and acted as a private tutor. Hooke had a brother named John, the same as his father, who was five years older.
Relatively few details of Hooke's childhood are known. He, like many children of his day, had poor health and was not expected to reach adulthood. His father was from a family in which it was expected that all the boys joined the Church (John Hooke's three brothers were all ministers) so had Hooke enjoyed good health as a child there is no doubt that he would have followed the family tradition.
Education
As it was Hooke's parents did begin to set up his education with this in mind, but he continually suffered from headaches which made studying hard. Lacking confidence that he would reach adulthood, Hooke's parents gave up on his education, leaving him much to his own devices.
Hooke's own ideas involved his observational skills and his mechanical skills. He observed the plants, the animals, the farms, the rocks, the cliffs, the sea, and the beaches around him. He was fascinated by mechanical toys and clocks, making many things from wood from a working clock to a model of a fully rigged ship with working guns. Waller, in the Preface to Hooke's Posthumous Works published in 1705, dates his belief in mechanics, in particular, his belief that nature was a complicated machine, from the time that he let his imagination and his talents run riot at about age ten.
From about the time Hooke was ten his father became ill and this contributed to Hooke being left to educate himself in the highly practical way that interested him. Not only did Hooke show talents at science, but he also showed skills at drawing. There was a portrait painter, John Hoskyns, who was working at Freshwater at this time and Hooke used to watch him at work. Soon he was imitating the way that Hoskyns used pen and chalk, and he was making copies of Hoskyns' portraits. His talent was clear and after the death of his father in 1648 Hooke's family decided that drawing was the best way that he might earn a living. He was left £40 by his father, together with all his father's books (the often quoted figure of £100 is a much-repeated error), and his family sent him to London to become an apprentice to the Peter Lely, a portrait painter.
Lely had studied at Haarlem in Holland and set himself up in London about five years before Hooke was sent to him. Lely quickly gained fame painting portraits of Charles I and James, Duke of York. Influenced by Van Dyck he became the most technically proficient painter in England and Hooke could have learnt much from such a leading expert. However, he soon decided that it would waste his money studying under Lely, and he made the decision that what he really needed was a school education. Hooke enrolled in Westminster School, boarding in the house of the headmaster Richard Busby. Indeed, Hooke was fortunate to come under the influence of Busby who was an outstanding teacher who quickly realised that he had a quite remarkable pupil. Hooke had mastered the first six books of Euclid's Elements by the end of his first week at school but Busby seemed to understand that formal learning was not going to be best for Hooke and so encouraged him to study by himself in his library.
At Westminster Hooke learnt Latin and Greek but, although he enjoyed speaking Latin, unlike his contemporaries he never wrote in Latin. His rapidly gained understanding of geometry was soon applied to his real love of mechanics and he began to invent possible flying machines. Music was another of his interests, and he learnt to play the organ. In 1653, feeling that he had assimilated as much knowledge as Westminster School could offer, he entered Christ College, Oxford where he won a chorister's place. He began to study at Oxford at a particularly significant time for Thomas Willis, Seth Ward, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, John Wallis, Christopher Wren and William Petty were among those who regularly met as the "Oxford branch" of the "invisible college" or the "philosophical college" which had been set up in 1648-49 when some of the scientists meeting in London moved to Oxford.
In Oxford Hooke learnt astronomy from Seth Ward and impressed Wilkins with his knowledge of mechanics. Wilkins gave him a copy of his book Mathematical Magick, or the wonders that may be performed by mechanical geometry which he had published five years before Hooke arrived in Oxford. This book encouraged Hooke to continue to try to invent a flying machine, and he conducted experiments in the grounds of Wadham College with pulleys. For a while Hooke assisted Willis with his dissection experiments. He was involved with the top English scientists of the day, benefiting greatly by acquiring skills in a wide range of disciplines.
In 1663 Hooke was awarded a Master of Arts degree.
Robert Boyle was looking for an assistant and Willis recommended Hooke to him. From 1655 he was employed by Boyle and his first project was to construct an air pump. The main area of Boyle's interests were in chemistry, but he had read of experiments conducted by von Guericke with the aid of an air pump and, knowing Hooke's skill with mechanical instruments, asked him if he could build one. A better air pump than that used by von Guericke had been made by Greatorix but Hooke felt that he could improve on the design. Indeed, he did so and Hooke designed and built what is essentially the modern air pump.
In 1660 Hooke discovered an instance of Hooke's law while working on designs for the balance springs of clocks. However, he only announced the general law of elasticity in his lecture Of Spring given in 1678. In fact, 1660 was the year when a rather strange event happened regarding Hooke's spring controlled clocks. In that year he was backed by Wren, Moray, and Brouncker in his design of a spring controlled clock and a patent was drawn up. It could have led to him making a fortune, but when he realized that the patent would allow anyone who improved on his design to receive the royalties, he refused to continue with the patent.
Political circumstances now determined the course of events. After Cromwell's death in 1658 his son took over but was ineffectual. Many of the scientists in Oxford had been appointed because of their Puritan sympathies, and they now lost their positions and moved to London. Monck, who had been appointed as governor in Scotland, marched an army on London and restored order in early 1660. Monck called for new elections to Parliament, knowing that the mood of the people would elect Royalists. The improvement in the situation in London, in particular troops which had been stationed in Gresham College now left, allowed the scientists to begin meeting again in the College. On Wednesday 28 November 1660 a meeting in Gresham College constituted the Society for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning which they declared would promote experimental philosophy.
Hooke's first publication was a pamphlet on capillary action. On 10 April 1661 his paper was read to the Society in which he showed that the narrower the tube, the higher water rose in it. The Society at Gresham had by this time petitioned King Charles II to recognize it and to make a royal grant of incorporation. The Royal Charter, which was passed by the Great Seal on 15 July 1662, created the Royal Society of London and the Royal Charter contained a provision to appoint a Curator of Experiments. The Society already had in mind appointing Hooke to this position and indeed on 5 November 1662, he was given the position. In many ways, it did not look a marvellous deal for he was required to demonstrate three or four experiments at every meeting of the Society, something that was quite unrealistic and it is doubtful that anyone other than Hooke could have contemplated being able to provide. Although it was hoped that the Society would eventually be able to provide payment to Hooke, he was required to undertake the work without any recompense until the Society was in a position to do so.
In fact Hooke reacted to the impossible task set him by producing a wealth of original ideas over the following 15 years. It would be fair to say that it was through Hooke's flood of ideas that the Society prospered, but equally the demands brought out Hooke's genius to the full. Although the demands meant that he never had time to develop his ideas over time as one would expect a leading scientist to do, on the other hand, it seemed to suit his nature to have his mind jump for one half thought out idea to the next. He was elected to the Royal Society on 3 June 1663 and, although he was still receiving no payment, at least the Society was prepared to allow him to become a Fellow without paying the annual fees.
In 1664 the Society agreed to pay Hooke a salary of £80 per year but shortly after this they arranged the position of Cutlerian Lecturer in the Mechanical Arts for him at a salary of £50 per year and then reduced his salary as Curator of Experiments to £30 but gave him an appointment for life. This did not provide the financial security that Hooke might have hoped for, since the Society often did not have sufficient funds to pay him as Curator of Experiments and when he was not paid for his duties as Cutlerian Lecturer in the Mechanical Arts he was forced to go to court to get payment.
Hooke did however secure another appointment, namely that of Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, being appointed there in 1665. The position gave him rooms at the College and required him to give one lecture each week in term time. The lecture had to be given in Latin and subsequently repeated in English. He was required to be unmarried but was permitted a housekeeper.
The year 1665 was the one when Hooke first achieved worldwide scientific fame. His book Micrographia, published that year, contained beautiful pictures of objects Hooke had studied through a microscope he had made himself. The book also contains a number of fundamental biological discoveries.
Hooke invented the conical pendulum and was the first person to build a Gregorian reflecting telescope. He made important astronomical observations including the fact that Jupiter revolves on its axis which he discovered from observing spots. He then invented a helioscope to attempt to measure the rotation of the sun using sunspots. He made drawings of Mars which were later used to determine its period of rotation. He observed several comets and asked a number of important questions about them, including why the tail points away from the sun, and how if the comet is burning it could burn for so long and burn in a place where there is no air.
In addition to his post as Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, Hooke held the post of City Surveyor. He was a very competent architect and was chief assistant to Wren in his project to rebuild London after the Great Fire of 1666.
After Hooke's death, Waller edited, a major publication of previously unpublished works by Hooke. A large portion of this work is devoted to Hooke's lectures on earthquakes. Over a period of thirty years, he made major contributions to geology, particularly his investigation of fossil remains which convinced him that major changes had occurred in the Earth's surface which had lifted fossilized shells of marine animals to high points in mountain ranges.
Achievements
One of the preeminent scientists of the seventeenth century, Robert Hooke is perhaps best remembered for the wide variety of fields to which he contributed, including physics, astronomy, microscopy, biology, and architecture, among others. He invented the first practical compound microscope, the spring balance wheel and anchor escapement mechanism, the universal joint, improved barometers, a screw-divided quadrant for astronomical measurements, a simple calculating machine, and a sounding device.
The law that governs the behavior of elastic materials is known as Hooke's law in his honor. He also coined the word cell for biological systems, discovered the diffraction of light, proposed a wave theory of light, invented a telegraph system, made significant astronomical observations of Jupiter and Mars, and is regarded as the founder of the science of crystallography. Many of his ideas inspired and were completed by others in and outside of the Royal Society, such as the Dutch pioneer microbiologist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, navigator and geographer William Dampier, geologist Niels Stenson (better known as Steno), and Hooke's personal nemesis, Isaac Newton. Craters on the Moon and on Mars are named in his honor.
Robert Hooke came from a highly religious Anglican family, and his father, John Hooke, expected him to become an Anglican clergyman himself. Being formally Anglican Hooke wasn't very relogious. When he wrote "libera me Domine" (Lord deliver me) in his diary, it was to curse the authorities, not to pray for his immortal soul.
Politics
Hooke became one of a tightly-knit group of ardent Royalists led by John Wilkins.
Views
Based on his microscopic observations of fossils, Hooke was an early proponent of biological evolution. In 1666, he proposed that gravity could be measured using a pendulum. He investigated the phenomenon of refraction, deducing the wave theory of light, and was the first to suggest that matter expands when heated and that air is made of small particles separated by relatively large distances. He performed pioneering work in the field of surveying and map-making and was involved in the work that led to the first modern plan-form map, though his plan for London on a grid system was rejected in favor of rebuilding along the existing routes. He also came near to an experimental proof that gravity follows an inverse square law, and hypothesized that such a relation governs the motions of the planets, an idea which was independently developed by Isaac Newton.
When Newton produced his theory of light and color in 1672, Hooke claimed that what was correct in Newton's theory was stolen from his own ideas about light of 1665 and what was original was wrong. This marked the beginning of severe arguments between the two. In 1672 Hooke attempted to prove that the Earth moves in an ellipse round the Sun and six years later proposed that inverse square law of gravitation to explain planetary motions.
Hooke, however, seemed unable to give a mathematical proof of his conjectures or perhaps unwilling to devote his time to this type of pursuit. However, he claimed priority over the inverse square law and this led to a bitter dispute with Newton who, as a consequence, removed all references to Hooke from the Principia.
Hooke was the first man to state in general that all matter expands when heated and that air is made up of particles separated from each other by relatively large distances.
Membership
Robert Hooke was one of the first members of the Royal Society.
Royal Society
,
England
1662 - 1703
Personality
Hooke was never a person who did one thing at a time, indeed he seemed at his best when his mind was jumping from one idea to another. At the same time that he was working on the air pump, he was also thinking about clocks and how they could be used in determining the longitude at sea.
Frequent bitter disputes with fellow scientists occurred throughout Hooke's life. On the other hand, it should be noted that he was on very good terms with some colleagues, particularly Boyle and Wren. Historians have described Hooke as a difficult and unreasonable man but in many ways, this is a harsh judgement. There is no doubt that Hooke genuinely felt that others had stolen ideas which he had been first to put forward. It is easy to see why this happened. Hooke did indeed come up with a vast range of brilliant ideas many of which were claimed by others not because they wished to steal them from him, but rather because Hooke never followed through developing his ideas into building comprehensive theories. He failed to develop major theories from his inspired ideas for the simple reason that he did not really have the technical ability to develop such comprehensive theories as some of his contemporaries like Newton and Huygens.
As Hooke grew older he became more cynical and would shut himself away from company. The papers which he wrote in the last few years of his life are filled with bitter comments. In February 1690 Hooke gave two lectures to the Royal Society where he shows how bitter he feels. By that time he was 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.
Physical Characteristics:
Hooke has been described as a lean, bent and ugly man and so it was believed that he did not sit for a portrait. A possible portrait found at the Royal Society has now been established as being of someone else.
Quotes from others about the person
"The possession of two such men as Newton and Hooke is rarely granted to one generation. They were not equal, however, in their greatness. But, while ample justice has been done to the genius of Newton, the labours of Hooke have been sadly overlooked." - Alexander Bryson, Scottish biologist
"Hooke is amazing in the number, the variety and the ingenuity of his experiments as well as for his extraordinary fertility in hypothesis." - Herbert Butterfield, British historian and philosopher of history
Interests
music
Politicians
Charles I, Charles II
Connections
Robert Hooke never had a wife or children. 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 legacy might have been broader still had he and Sir Isaac Newton been able to collaborate harmoniously in the work that led to Newton's Principia, which opened new vistas of scientific investigation. Instead, whatever collaboration the two apparently did have concluded with Newton claiming full credit for the ideas, while Hooke protested strongly but futilely for some share of the credit. The acrimony between Hook and Newton was so strong that Newton, who outlived Hooke by more than twenty years and oversaw the move to new quarters by the Royal Society after Hooke died, is thought to have had some responsibility for Hooke's portrait being lost in the move. No portrait of Hooke exists today.
