Robert Hooke FRS (pronounced /hʊk/; July 18, 1635–March 3, 1703) was an English expert in many areas, including physics, astronomy, geology, meteorology, and architecture. He was one of the first scientists to study living things using a microscope he designed in 1665. As a young adult, Hooke was a poor scientist who later became one of the most important scientists of his time. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Hooke, as a surveyor and architect, earned wealth and respect by completing more than half of the property line surveys and helping rebuild the city. Though criticized by many writers after his death, Hooke’s reputation improved in the late twentieth century, and he is sometimes called "England’s Leonardo [da Vinci]."

Hooke was a member of the Royal Society and its first Curator of Experiments starting in 1662. From 1665 to 1703, he also taught geometry at Gresham College. He began his scientific work as an assistant to Robert Boyle, a scientist who studied gases. Hooke built the vacuum pumps used in Boyle’s experiments and conducted his own research. In 1664, Hooke discovered the rotations of Mars and Jupiter. His 1665 book Micrographia introduced the term "cell" and inspired further studies of tiny structures. Hooke studied how light bends and suggested that light behaves like waves. He also proposed early ideas about how heat causes matter to expand, how air is made of moving particles that create pressure, and how heat is a form of energy.

In physics, Hooke suggested that gravity follows an inverse square law, meaning gravity weakens as the distance between objects increases. He may have been the first to link this idea to planetary motion, a concept later developed by Isaac Newton. This discovery led to a rivalry between Hooke and Newton. In geology and paleontology, Hooke studied fossils in sedimentary rocks and argued that they formed from living organisms, challenging the idea that Earth was created exactly as it is today. He identified some fossils as belonging to species that no longer exist, which helped lead to later discussions about biological evolution. Hooke also believed that mountains and hills were shaped by natural processes over time, not created in their current form.

Life and works

Much of what is known about Robert Hooke’s early life comes from an autobiography he started in 1696 but never finished. Richard Waller FRS mentioned this autobiography in his introduction to The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke, M.D. S.R.S., which was printed in 1705. Waller’s work, along with John Ward’s Lives of the Gresham Professors and John Aubrey’s Brief Lives, are the main sources of information about Hooke’s life from people who lived close to his time.

Hooke was born in 1635 in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, to Cecily Gyles and John Hooke, an Anglican priest who served as the curate of All Saints’ Church in Freshwater. Robert was the youngest of four siblings (two boys and two girls) by seven years. He was weak and not expected to live long. His father taught him some English, Latin grammar, and religious studies, but Robert’s education was not given much attention. Left to his own devices, he made small mechanical toys. After seeing a brass clock taken apart, he built a wooden version that worked.

Hooke’s father died in October 1648, leaving £40 to Robert in his will (plus another £10 from his grandmother). At age 13, he took the money to London to become an apprentice to the famous painter Peter Lely. Hooke also received some drawing lessons from Samuel Cowper, a limner, but he disliked the smell of oil paints, which worsened his headaches. He then moved to Westminster School, where he lived with its master, Richard Busby. At school, Hooke quickly learned Latin, Greek, and Euclid’s Elements. He also learned to play the organ and began studying mechanics. He remained skilled at drawing, as seen in his illustrations for Robert Boyle’s work and his own Micrographia.

In 1653, Hooke was accepted to Christ Church, Oxford, where he received free tuition and housing as an organist and chorister. He also earned a small income as a servitor, even though he did not officially join the university until 1658. In 1662, he earned a Master of Arts degree.

While studying at Oxford, Hooke worked as an assistant to Dr. Thomas Willis, a physician, chemist, and member of the Oxford Philosophical Club. The club was started by John Wilkins, Warden of Wadham College, and included scientists who later helped form the Royal Society. In 1659, Hooke shared ideas about heavier-than-air flight with the club but concluded human muscles were not strong enough for such a task. Through the club, Hooke met Seth Ward, the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, and created a device to improve pendulum clocks used for astronomy. Hooke described his time at Oxford as the start of his lifelong interest in science. Friends he made there, like Christopher Wren, were important to him throughout his career. Willis introduced Hooke to Robert Boyle, whom the club wanted to bring to Oxford.

In 1655, Boyle moved to Oxford, and Hooke became his assistant, though they worked closely on experiments. Boyle was studying gas pressure, and scientists were beginning to question Aristotle’s idea that “nature abhors a vacuum.” Hooke built an air pump for Boyle’s experiments instead of using Ralph Greatorex’s pump, which he thought was too simple. Hooke’s pump helped develop the law later named after Boyle. Hooke also taught Boyle mathematics and philosophy, and together they discovered that fire was a chemical reaction, not one of nature’s basic elements as Aristotle had believed.

According to Henry Robinson, Librarian of the Royal Society in 1935, the Royal Society was founded in 1660 and received its royal charter in 1662. In 1661, Robert Moray suggested appointing a curator to provide experiments for the society, and Hooke was chosen by Boyle. The society could not fully fund the curator’s position, but in 1664, John Cutler gave the society £50 annually to support a “Mechanick” lectureship at Gresham College, with the condition that Hooke be appointed. In 1664, Hooke was confirmed in this role, and in 1665, he was named Curator of Experiments for life, earning £80 a year.

In 1663, Hooke became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). In 1665, he was also appointed Gresham Professor of Geometry. In 1667, he became acting secretary of the society, and in 1677, he was named joint secretary.

John Aubrey described Hooke as a person of “great virtue and goodness.” However, many sources also mention Hooke’s difficult personality. His first biographer, Richard Waller, said Hooke was “despicable” in appearance and “melancholy, mistrustful, and jealous.” These descriptions influenced writers for over 200 years, leading many to portray Hooke as a grumpy, selfish, and anti-social person. For example, Arthur Berry claimed Hooke took credit for others’ discoveries, while Sullivan called him “unscrupulous” and “vain” in his dealings with Isaac Newton. Manuel described Hooke as “cantankerous, envious, and vengeful.” More said he had a “cynical” and “caustic” nature. Andrade called him “difficult,” “suspicious,” and “irritable.” In 1675, the Royal Society considered expelling Hooke after he criticized Christiaan Huygens over a scientific dispute, but the motion failed. His biographer, Ellen Drake, noted that Hooke’s diary, published in 1935, revealed more about his personal life. His biographer, Margaret Espinasse, said the image of Hooke as a “morose recluse” was incorrect. Hooke interacted with skilled artisans like clockmaker Thomas Tompion and instrument-maker Christopher Cocks. He often met Christopher Wren and had a lasting friendship with John Aubrey. His diary mentions meetings at coffeehouses, taverns, and dinners with Robert Boyle. He also spent time with his lab assistant, Harry Hunt. Though he lived alone, his niece Grace Hooke and cousin Tom Giles lived with him for years.

Hooke never married. His diary mentions he had a sexual relationship with his niece Grace after she turned 16. Grace had been in his care since age 10. He also had relationships with several maids and housekeepers. His biographer, Stephen Inwood, said Grace was the love of his life and that he was deeply upset when she died in

Science

Robert Hooke's work at the Royal Society involved showing experiments he created or those suggested by other members. Early experiments included studying air and how glass bubbles filled with hot air collapsed when cooled. He also showed that a dog could survive with its chest open if air was moved in and out of its lungs. He noted differences between blood from the heart (arterial blood) and blood returning to the heart (venous blood), proving that the "food of life" and fire were connected. He also tested gravity, how objects fall, how weight changes with height, and how pendulums swing. His biographer, Margaret Espinasse, called him England's first meteorologist because he wrote about recording weather using tools like thermometers, hygrometers, wind gauges, and record sheets.

In May 1664, Hooke used a 12-foot telescope to observe Jupiter's Great Red Spot for two hours. In March 1665, he shared his findings, and another scientist, Giovanni Cassini, used them to calculate Jupiter's rotation time as nine hours and fifty-five minutes.

One of Hooke's challenges was measuring the distance from Earth to a star. He chose Gamma Draconis and tried using parallax, but his tools were not precise enough to get accurate results.

In his book Micrographia, Hooke included drawings of stars in the Pleiades and craters on the Moon. He studied how craters formed and concluded the Moon must have gravity, which was a new idea at the time. He also observed Saturn's rings and discovered a double star, Gamma Arietis, in 1664.

To make his discoveries, Hooke needed better tools. He invented the Hooke joint, a clockwork drive, and a micrometer screw for precise measurements. He also built the first practical Gregorian telescope using silvered mirrors instead of lenses.

In 1660, Hooke discovered the law of elasticity, which states that the force needed to stretch a spring is proportional to how much it is stretched. He first shared this idea in an anagram, solving it later as "As the extension, so the force." His work led to the balance spring, which improved the accuracy of portable watches. Though Hooke and Christiaan Huygens had a long debate over who first invented this, Huygens is credited with building the first watch with a balance spring.

Hooke used anagrams to claim priority for discoveries without revealing details. He also used models to study gravity and other forces.

Hooke did not influence Thomas Newcomen's steam engine, a myth from an old encyclopedia.

While others, like Isaac Newton, believed in aether as a force carrier, Hooke proposed that gravity was an attracting force in his 1665 work Micrographia. He later wrote that gravity affects all celestial bodies but did not yet know if it followed an inverse square law.

In 1679, Hooke exchanged letters with Newton about gravity and other scientific ideas. Hooke suggested that gravity decreases with distance, but his calculations were incorrect.

In 1686, when Newton's Principia was presented, Hooke claimed he had shared the idea that gravity weakens with the square of the distance from an object. However, Newton is credited with developing the full theory of gravity.

Architecture

Robert Hooke worked as Surveyor to the City of London and as Christopher Wren’s chief assistant. In these roles, he helped Wren rebuild London after the Great Fire of 1666. Hooke designed several important buildings, including the Monument to the Great Fire of London (1672), Montagu House in Bloomsbury (1674), and Bethlem Royal Hospital (1674), which was known as "Bedlam." Other structures he designed include the Royal College of Physicians (1679), Aske’s Hospital (1679), Ragley Hall in Warwickshire (1680), the Church of St Mary Magdalene at Willen in Buckinghamshire (1680), and Ramsbury Manor in Wiltshire (1681). Hooke also worked on rebuilding many London churches after the fire. He was often hired by Wren to assist with construction projects. From 1671 to 1696, Wren’s office paid Hooke £2,820 in fees, which was more than he earned from his roles at the Royal Society and Cutler Lectureship.

Both Wren and Hooke were interested in astronomy. The Monument to the Great Fire of London was designed to function as a scientific tool, specifically a zenith telescope for observing the stars. However, vibrations from traffic made it unsuitable for this purpose. The Monument’s spiral staircase, which has no central column, and its underground observation chamber, which still exists, reflect its original design. Hooke also worked with Wren on the design of St Paul’s Cathedral. He discovered that the ideal shape of an arch is an inverted catenary, and that a series of such arches arranged in a circle forms the best shape for a cathedral dome.

After the Great Fire, Hooke proposed redesigning London’s streets in a grid pattern with wide roads to improve traffic flow. Wren and others also suggested similar plans. However, the King decided that rebuilding would be based on the original property lines to save costs and quickly restore the city. Hooke’s job was to survey the ruins and locate foundations, street edges, and property boundaries. He was involved in drafting an Act of Common Council (April 1667), which outlined how original foundations would be officially recognized and documented. According to Lisa Jardine, Hooke helped map the fire-damaged area, created a Land Information System for London, and prepared building regulations for an Act of Parliament to guide the rebuilding. Stephen Inwood noted that Hooke’s survey reports showed skill in resolving complex disputes between neighbors and making fair decisions.

Hooke also measured and certified land that would be purchased for road widening to ensure proper compensation. In 1670, he was appointed Surveyor of the Royal Works. His precise surveys contributed to the creation of Ogilby and Morgan’s large-scale map of London in 1677, the first known map of a specific scale (1:1200).

Likenesses

No verified portrait of Robert Hooke has ever been found. Some people believe this might be because of disagreements between Hooke and Isaac Newton, but Hooke’s biographer, Allan Chapman, says there is no proof that Newton or his followers destroyed Hooke’s portrait. In 1710, a German scholar named Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach visited the Royal Society and wrote that he saw portraits of "Boyle and Hoock." These were described as accurate, but only Boyle’s portrait remains today. Hooke’s portrait is missing. During Hooke’s lifetime, the Royal Society met at Gresham College. After Hooke died, Newton became the Society’s president, and plans were made to move to new buildings. When the Royal Society moved to new premises in 1710, Hooke’s portrait was the only one that disappeared and has not been found since. Hooke’s diary mentions he sat for a portrait painted by artist Mary Beale, so it is possible such a portrait once existed. However, a book published after Hooke’s death, Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke by Richard Waller, includes no portrait of him.

Two written descriptions of Hooke’s appearance from his time survive. John Aubrey, a close friend, described Hooke in middle age and at the peak of his creativity:

Richard Waller, in The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke (1705), described Hooke as an older man:

In 1939, Time magazine published a portrait it claimed was of Hooke. However, Ashley Montagu traced the source and found no proof it was connected to Hooke. Montagu noted that the two written descriptions of Hooke match each other but do not match the Time portrait.

In 2003, historian Lisa Jardine suggested a newly discovered portrait might be of Hooke. However, William B. Jensen of the University of Cincinnati identified the person in the portrait as Jan Baptist van Helmont, a Flemish scholar.

Other possible images of Hooke include:
– A seal Hooke used, which shows a profile portrait of a man’s head. Some believe this might be Hooke.
– The frontispiece of the 1728 edition of Chambers’ Cyclopedia includes a drawing of a bust of Robert Hooke. It is unclear if this drawing was based on a real portrait.
– A memorial window in St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London, once honored Hooke, but it was a standard design rather than a detailed likeness. The window was destroyed in the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing.

In 2003, artist Rita Greer created painted and drawn images of Hooke that she believes match Aubrey’s and Waller’s descriptions. These images are available for free use under the Free Art License and have been used in TV programs, books, and public relations materials.

In 2019, Larry Griffing, a biology professor at Texas A&M University, proposed that a portrait titled Portrait of a Mathematician by Mary Beale might actually be of Hooke. Griffing noted that the person in the portrait has features matching Hooke’s and points to a drawing of elliptical motion that matches an unpublished manuscript by Hooke. The painting also includes an orrery (a model of the solar system) showing the same principle. Griffing suggested the buildings in the painting are from Lowther Castle and its Church of St. Michael in Cumbria, which Hooke helped renovate. Beale, the artist, may have known these buildings through her work for the Lowther family. Griffing claimed the painting was once owned by the Royal Society but was abandoned when Newton moved the Society’s headquarters in 1710. However, Christopher Whittaker of the University of Durham questioned Griffing’s analysis, suggesting the portrait might instead show Isaac Barrow. Griffing later defended his conclusion.

Commemorations

• Asteroid 3514 Hooke, also known as (1971 UJ), was discovered in 1971.
• A crater on the Moon and another on Mars are named in his honor.
• The Hooke Medal is an award given each year by the British Society for Cell Biology to recognize someone who is becoming a leader in the field of cell biology.
• A list of new memorials to Robert Hooke built between 2005 and 2009 was created to celebrate the 300th anniversary of his death.
• The Boyle-Hooke plaque is located in Oxford.

Works

• Mr. Hook's response to Mr. Auzout's thoughts, written in a letter to the author of Philosophical Transactions and included in other letters about large lenses (in French). Published in Paris by Jean Cusson in 1665.
• Lectures on the Restoring Power, or, Explaining the Force of Springing Objects. Printed in London by John Martyn in 1678.
• Micrographia: Descriptions of tiny objects viewed through magnifying glasses, along with observations and questions about them.
• Collection of Lectures: Physical, Mechanical, Geographical, and Astronomical. Printed in London by John Martyn, printer to the Royal Society, at the Bell in St. Paul's Churchyard in 1679. Includes works such as An Attempt to Prove the Earth's Annual Motion, Notes on Comets from 1677, and Lectures on the Spring.
• Philosophical Experiments and Observations. Published in London by William Innys & John Innys in 1726.
• The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke, M.D., S.R.S., Geom. Prof. Gresh. Includes his Cutlerian Lectures and other talks presented to the Royal Society, with illustrations. The text also includes a summary of his life, studies, and inventions made while serving as curator of experiments for the Royal Society. Published in 1705 by Richard Waller, R.S. Secr.