Robert hooke biography summary of 10
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke was a famous scientist, born in 1635. He most famously discovered the Law of Elasticity (or Hooke’s Law) and did a huge amount of work on microbiology (he published a famous book called Micrographia, which included sketches of various natural things under a microscope).
Hooke was the scientist who coined the term "cell", so we refer to the billions of tiny pieces that make up everything as cells because of him!
Hooke also studied the planets, and invented a process for telling the time accurately, as well as being an accomplished architect.
His wide ranging contributions have often been compared to those of Leonardo da Vinci, and he is referred to as a ‘polymath’ because he studied and contributed to so many subjects.
Top 10 facts
- There is a crater on the moon called the Hooke Crater, named after Robert Hooke.
- Hooke took organ lessons.
- No portraits of Hooke exist, so it is tricky to know exactly what he looked like.
- Hooke was also an architect – he made most of his money by designing buildings and was appointed Surveyor to the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666.
- Hooke discovered that cells make up every living thing.
- In 1662, Hooke became the Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society, a role he did for 40 years.
- Hooke was very good at drawing, and when he was young his father thought he might become an artist.
- Many people challenged Hooke’s drawings of things from his microscope because they couldn’t believe the bizarre way that some things appeared.
- Hooke wrote a detailed personal diary between March 1672 and May 1683.
- When Hooke discovered a honeycomb-like structure in a slice of cork using his microscope he only saw cell walls (because the cork was dead tree tissue) and he coined the term "cell" for individual compartments he saw.
Timeline
1635
Robert Hooke is born on the 18th July in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight
1648
Hooke attends Westminster School in Londo
Quick Info
- Born
- 18 July 1635
Freshwater, Isle of Wight, England- Died
- 3 March 1703
London, England- Summary
- Robert Hooke was an English scientist who made contributions to many different fields including mathematics, optics, mechanics, architecture and astronomy. He had a famous quarrel with Newton.
Biography
Robert Hooke's father was John Hooke who 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. Robert had a brother named John, the same name as his father, who was five years older.
Relatively few details of Robert's childhood are known. What we record here is information which he mentioned to his friends later in his life. Robert, 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 Robert enjoyed good health as a child there is no doubt that he would have followed the family tradition. As it was Robert'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, Robert's parents gave up on his education, leaving him much to his own devices.
Robert'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- Robert hooke contribution
Biography of Robert Hooke, the Man Who Discovered Cells
Robert Hooke (July 18, 1635–March 3, 1703) was a 17th-century "natural philosopher"—an early scientist—noted for a variety of observations of the natural world. But perhaps his most notable discovery came in 1665 when he looked at a sliver of cork through a microscope lens and discovered cells.
Fast Facts: Robert Hooke
- Known For: Experiments with a microscope, including the discovery of cells, and coining of the term
- Born: July 18, 1635 in Freshwater, the Isle of Wight, England
- Parents: John Hooke, vicar of Freshwater and his second wife Cecily Gyles
- Died: March 3, 1703 in London
- Education: Westminster in London, and Christ Church at Oxford, as a laboratory assistant of Robert Boyle
- Published Works: Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon
Early Life
Robert Hooke was born July 18, 1635, in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England, the son of the vicar of Freshwater John Hooke and his second wife Cecily Gates. His health was delicate as a child, so Robert was kept at home until after his father died. In 1648, when Hooke was 13, he went to London and was first apprenticed to painter Peter Lely and proved fairly good at the art, but he left because the fumes affected him. He enrolled at Westminster School in London, where he received a solid academic education including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and also gained training as an instrument maker.
He later went on to Oxford and, as a product of Westminster, entered Christ Church college, where he became the friend and laboratory assistant of Robert Boyle, best known for his natural law of gases known as Boyle's Law. Hooke invented a wide range of things at Christ Church, including a balance spring for watches, but he published few of them. He did publish a tract on capillary attraction in 1661, and it was t
- What is robert hooke famous for
Robert Hooke
(1635-1703)
Who Was Robert Hooke?
Scientist Robert Hooke was educated at Oxford and spent his career at the Royal Society and Gresham College. His research and experiments ranged from astronomy to biology to physics; he is particularly recognized for the observations he made while using a microscope and for "Hooke's Law" of elasticity. Hooke died in London in 1703.
Early Life and Education
Robert Hooke was born in the town of Freshwater, on England’s Isle of Wight, on July 18, 1635. His parents were John Hooke, who served as curate for the local church parish, and Cecily (née Gyles) Hooke.
Initially a sickly child, Hooke grew to be a quick learner who was interested in painting and adept at making mechanical toys and models. After his father’s death in 1648, the 13-year-old Hooke was sent to London to apprentice with painter Peter Lely. This connection turned out to be a short one, and he went instead to study at London’s Westminster School.
In 1653, Hooke enrolled at Oxford's Christ Church College, where he supplemented his meager funds by working as an assistant to the scientist Robert Boyle. While studying subjects ranging from astronomy to chemistry, Hooke also made influential friends, such as future architect Christopher Wren.
Teaching, Research and Other Occupations
Hooke was appointed curator of experiments for the newly formed Royal Society of London in 1662, a position he obtained with Boyle's support. Hooke became a fellow of the society in 1663.
Unlike many of the gentleman scientists he interacted with, Hooke required an income. In 1665, he accepted a position as professor of geometry at Gresham College in London. After the "Great Fire" destroyed much of London in 1666, Hooke became a city surveyor. Working with Wren, he assessed the damage and redesigned many of London’s streets and public buildings.
Major Discoveries and Achievements
A true polymath, the topics Hooke covered during his career include