Robert Hooke

@Architects, Career and Family

Robert Hooke FRS was a 17th century English scientist, architect and polymath

Jul 28, 1635

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Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: July 28, 1635
  • Died on: March 3, 1703
  • Nationality: British
  • Famous: Oxford University, Architects, Philosophers, Astronomers, Physicists, Biologists
  • Known as: โรเบิร์ต ฮุค th, Гук, Роберт ru, 罗伯特·胡克 zh-TW
  • Universities:
    • Oxford University
    • Christ Church
    • Oxford
    • Westminster School
    • University of Oxford
    • Wadham College
    • Oxford
  • Notable Alumnis:
    • Oxford University

Robert Hooke born at

Freshwater, Isle of Wight

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Birth Place

He suffered from several ailments in the last years of his life. He died in London on 3 March 1703 and was buried at St Helen's Bishopsgate. He was very wealthy at the time of his death.

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Personal Life

Throughout history he is mentioned as a distrusting, jealous, melancholic and despicable human. But the discovery of his personal diary revealed his emotional side.

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Personal Life

Robert Hooke was born on 28 July 1635 in Freshwater, England, to John Hooke and Cecily Gyles. His father was a priest at the Church of England and the curate of the Freshwater's Church of All Saints. Robert had three siblings.

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Childhood & Early Life

He received most of his education at home because of his continual frail health. But he impressed his father with his quick learning, drawing and painting skills and adeptness in making mechanical models.

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Childhood & Early Life

His father passed away in 1648 and left him an inheritance of £40. With this he travelled to London and acquired an art apprenticeship under Peter Lely and Samuel Cowper. But he left the apprenticeship soon and went to the Westminster School to study under Dr Richard Busby. He studied Greek, Latin, mechanics and mathematics.

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Childhood & Early Life

In 1655, Robert Hooke became an assistant to the famous scientist Robert Boyle and worked in this capacity till 1662. He helped in the construction and operation of Boyle's air-pump.

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Career

He discovered the law of elasticity which eventually came to be known as Hooke’s Law. He described this law in an anagram 'ceiiinosssttuv' in 1660 and gave its solution in 1678.

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Career

In 1660, the Royal Society—the oldest national scientific society in the world—was formed by 12 men at the Gresham College. Some of them were Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren, John Wilkins, Sir Robert Moray and Viscount Brouncker. In 1662, on Sir Moray's proposal and with Boyle's support Hooke was named as the curator of the society. He became a fellow of the society in 1663.

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Career

In 1664 he succeeded Arthur Dacres as the professor of Geometry at the Gresham College.

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Career

In 1665 he published the book, ‘Micrographia’, in which he documented the observations he had made through various lenses of a microscope. It is considered to be one of the most important scientific books ever written.

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Career

Robert Hooke is best known for propounding the law of elasticity which bears his name—Hooke’s law. He first stated the law as a Latin anagram in 1660 and published its solution in 1678. This law is extensively used in all branches of science and engineering, and is the foundation of many disciplines such as seismology, molecular mechanics and acoustics.

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Major Works

He is also known for the observations he made while using a microscope. In his book 'Micrographia', published in 1665, he documented experiments that he had made with a microscope. In this path-breaking study, he coined the term "cell" while explaining the structure of cork.

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Major Works