1635-1703

English Physicist

Robert Hooke was a scientist with broad interests and accomplishments. He is best known for his research on elastic solids and for the discovery of the law that governs their behavior.

Hooke was educated at Westminster and at Christ Church of Oxford University. While at Oxford, he met chemist Robert Boyle who hired Hooke to assist him in his research on the behavior of gases. In 1622, Hooke was made curator of experiments for the Royal Society of London and was elected a fellow of the Society the following year. In 1665, he was chosen to be professor of geometry at Gresham College in London, a position he held for thirty years. He also served as City Surveyor of London and was Christopher Wren's chief assistant in the effort to rebuild London after the Great Fire of 1666.

Title page from Robert Hooke's book Micrographia. (Bettmann...