ROBERT HOOKE (1635-1703)

Architect of Willen church, has been acclaimed as "one of the most inventive geniuses the world has ever seen". After the Civil War, and the Restoration of Charles 11 in 1660, he became Curator of Experiments to the newly founded Royal Society, a post which he held until his death. He was the leading scientific figure of the period, with a mastery over a vast range of scientific fields. After the Fire of London in 1666, he was appointed City Surveyor, to oversee the rebuilding of London. He and his friend Christopher Wren turned their hands to architecture, Hooke designing many beautiful and prominent buildings. His Monument to the Fire of London is still a landmark, but Willen Church is his only other known building that remains virtually complete.

CHEMISTRY& COMBUSTION

Hooke proved by experiment that in combustion something (now known as oxygen) is taken from the air and that in the absence of this substance combustion quickly ceases, however much heat is applied. His work was forgotten and it was not until the 19th century that this same discovery was made again.

AIR PUMP

Ancestor of the steam engine and internal combustion engine It was hooke who designed and made the air pump (for creating a vacuum and compressing air) Which Robert boyle needed in his experiments leading to the formulation of boyle's law

MOREPHYSICS... OPTICS & THE THEORY OF LIGHT

Hooke was the first to observe the pattern ol colours in a thin film of air between glass plates-
later known as "Newton's Rings
He invented the iris diaphragm, used in the modern camera.

EXTRACT FROMROBERT HOOKE'S DIARY

Thursday, January 22nd, 1674 -At Haywards ls.6d Spanish coffee house. Fleet Ditch with Committee. At Scots cald. Fell into dirt at Lad Lane. Spoke to Sir W Arnerfor Mr Ogylby. Dfined] I-Ifomel. Nell here quick. Read part of Lecture about Hevelius.Shewd Experiment about Sight. ConvincedalL Lord Brounkerorderedmakingaquadrantaftermy way. TotryExperimentofLoadstonenextDay. GoddardGrumble4L AtGarawayswith Cap. George Jacobsom Diodati, Hambdem Hill. Much philosophicall discourse of Elephants who never ....... of Gold in graine. (Ifound in old Nichols garden a Mulberry tree that had formerly been splitt tivetted together by an iron bolt 1 inch big. The tree thrived much and ever since bore vast quantitys of Mulberrys and never before any. Let more tryalls hereof be made.) Gave Nell 1sh. for Grace's pattern.

BOYHOOD.

After apprenticing himself briefly to an artist, Hooke enrolled at Westminster School where he mastered Euclid's six books of geometry in a week and invented"thirty several ways of flying."
He lodged in the house of the Headmaster, Dr Busby, who became a life-long friend and later commissioned Willen Church.

WILLEN CHURCH.

Hooke visited Willen once. He came up the dirt roads from London changing Horses at Barnet and Dunstable. Otherwise he left his trusted Craftsmen Horn & Bates, to oversee the work.
The Church Tower Lost it,s Original Cupola. The Apse is a C19th addition.

ARCHITECT

Amongst many other buildings designed by Hooke, the Royal College of Physicians and the famous Bedlam Hospital ranked among the new beauties of restoration London.

ST PAUL'S

Wren employed Hooke as his partner in supervising the construction of St Paul's and the great London Churches. They met to share all their ideas and plans, whether on Architecture or science. Wren altered his design for St Pauls after Hooke showed him his principles concerning the strongest shape for an arch.

"AN ACTIVE RESTLESS INDEFATIGABLE GENIUS."

Restoration London was a convivial place. People were constantly calling on one another and stating to dinner, or meeting in taverns and coffee houses to hear the news and do business.
Hooke knew and talked to everybody: nobility, scientists, dignitaries, craftsmen and their families: the King. With his stooping figure he walked rapidly all over London, as he went from survey site, to committee, to book auction; to instruct a craftsman, draw a polar projection, invent a "wheel-cutting engine" or conduct a Royal Society meeting.

EXTRACT FROM HOOKE'S DIARY

Saturday, May 22nd 1674Slept til 7. At garaways with lem, oliver, godfry, and new carpenter, at the mercers. To Thomkin* in Water Lane. Much discourse with him about watches.
Told him the way of making an engine for finishing wheels, and a way to make a dividing plate: abouth the forme of an arch; about another way of teeth work; about pocket watches and many other things.
At Sir Ch. Wrens: At Oldenburgs. Borrowed Mr Wallis his letter to Hevelius, and pettit his book about variation of lattitude.
At Sir W Petty in Picadily. He was trimming his new house. Saw my Lady Petty. At Coxes. Paid for altering staff 1sh. At Pells. With Sir J Cutler and Dr Whistler at Garaways. Sir J Cutler promised £1600 for theatre. At Garaways with Burt. Sent for quadrent from Tomkins. I was to send him 25sh. to dine at Lord Brounkers tommorow with Sir Ch. Wren.

* Thomas Tompion, "The father of English Watch making"

SURVEYOR FOR THE CITY OF LONDON

As City Surveyor, Hooke had to view hundreds of sites, set out the foundations for each building and for street lines and widening. He had to assist, advise and enforce building regulations. He worked on Canals and conduits, bridges, quays and sewers, reporting regularly to the committee of City Lands.
He was also \gresham Professor of Geometry and Cutlerian Lecturer in Mechanics.

"THE CARE, BUSINESS AND CONCERN OF LIFE"

In the late 17th century, science was regarded as a central concern of life. There was an urgent need for improved ships, faster land vehicles and more accurate maps and navigational aids, to further the great commercial expansion of the age.
Hooke was responsible for"not fewer than a thousand"experimental inventions.

HOROLOGY

He greatly improved the accuracy of clocks and watches through his work on springs and his invention of the anchor escapment.

HOOKE'S LAW

UT TENSO SIC VIS
"The power of any spring is in the same proportion with the tension thereof"
It was by applying this law that Hooke was able to develop a pocket watch using a balance spring instead of a pendulum. He presented one to Prince Charles II who declared himself"Very well pleased"

NAVIGATION

How can a ship's captain determining his longitude at sea?
Hooke's attempt to solve this crucial problem led him not only to develop more accurate time pieces but to improve the design of quadrants and telescopes so that more accurate star charts and maps could be produced.
He also invented a diving bell, a method of depth-sounding and of sampling water at given depths, and a marine barometer.

EXTRACT FROM ROBERT HOOKE'S DIARY

Thursday, February 11th, 1675Wrot out direction for carpenter. Sent them to Monox treasurer and Bell. To Mr Mountacue found him in Westminster Hall, Lime Court. Saw him sweat and c. Well pleasd. With Tompion at Carvers, at Mans 7d. With Moxon and Dr Mayow. Saw Sir Christopher Wren. Brought in Fleet Street for 4sh., mellons. 5 figures Call garden of honey and Greens Weale and wonders. At Moxons discoursed about cutting boarders letters and for Roman press in copper. Shewd Tompion in Martins shop how to stay a falling clock weight by a scafold pole. Received bill for books from Mr Martins as above. Dind with Waters, Story, Fitch, Hammond and c. at the Bear. Dr Croon at Royal Society read of the muscles of birds for flying. I discoursd much of it. Declared that I had a way of making an artificial muscule and to command the strength of 20 men. Told my way of flying by vanes tryd at Wadham. Told Mr Wrens way by kites, the unsuccesfulness of powder for this effect, and what the tryalls and contrivences I had made. Dr Pell told me of meeting at Collonel Titus's about commission of Logitude. With Sir Andrew King 2 houres. Received from Waters two load of Bellats, paid him 2s.6d. for carridge. Ill at stomack, drank brandy. Thom. Urry of Farm here. 1 bottle of white wine. John Man his press.

MICROSCOPY

Hooke's meticulous drawings showed to the public for the first time the intricate world visible through the newly invented microscope- the eye of a fly, the "pretty bodies" on a speck of mould, a flea. Samuel Pepys described Hooke'sMicrographica(1665)as"The most ingenious book that ever I read in my life".

FATHER OF CELL BIOLOGY

Looking at a section of cork through a microscope, Hooke was the first to observe that plants have a cellular structure. He gave the plant "Cell" its name.

MEDICINE AND PHYSIOLOGY

Hooke did some of the earliest experiments in skin grafting, blood transfusion and artificial resperation.
He correctly hypothesized from experiment that the lungs take something from the air in the act of resperation.
He was awarded a doctorate for his services to medicine.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY

Hooke was the Society's secretary for some years and corresponded with scientists all over Europe, in at least four languages.
He helped amass a great stock of information from all over the known world, which was collated in the Society's Library and its Repository of instrument and curiosities.

GEOLOGY

EXTRACT FROM ROBERT HOOKE'S DIARY

Monday, April 3rd, 1676 To Tower Dock, Smith, Lever, here. Directions for quadrant. Bird here, discourse about fly, pump, trublesum maesse. At Alsops, Mr Martins, Sir W. Pettys. Discourse of chariot and Tangier. Shewed him further to hang it on springs. To Boyles. Slayer his room and pump, Pappin's engine. To Mans chocolat 6d. At Ellis 8d, never more. To Mr Montacue with Mr Fitch agreed the whole building for 23 hundred pounds. Missed Oliver and Faircloth at Garaways. Described turret at Bedlam. With Sir Th. Player and Ailward. Garaways, Fitch, Hayward, Crisp and c. Drank port-portand eat pease porridg. Slept well. St Albans Cornerstone layd.

THE FIRST METEOROLOGIST

Hooke invented the wheel barometer and found that changes in air pressure were followed by changes in the weather.
He went on to invent "all the other meteorological instruments", and his ingenious "weather clock" kept an automatic record every fifteen minutes of air pressure, temperature, wind direction and speed, humidity and rainfall.

UNIVERSAL JOINT

Invented by Hooke in 1676, the universal joint is a key component of the modern car.
"A universal instrument for communicating a round motion through any irregularly bent way, without shaking or variation"

Short Bibliography
The Diary of Robert Hooke 1672-1680, ed. Robinson and Adams (Taylor and Francis, London, 1935)
Hooke, RobertMicrographica, 1665 (Reprinted by Dover Publications, New York, 1961)
'Espinasse, Margret, Robert Hooke,(Heinemann, London, 1956)
Gunther,R.T.,Early Science in Oxford(Oxford,1930)