Editing Robert Hooke (section)

== Life and works ==
=== Early life ===
Much of what is known of Hooke's early life comes from an autobiography he commenced in 1696 but never completed; [[Richard Waller (d. 1715)|Richard Waller]] FRS mentions it in his introduction to ''The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke, M.D. S.R.S.'', which was printed in 1705.{{sfnp|Waller|1705|page=i}}{{efn|"SRS" means "Secretary of the Royal Society". He was also a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]. The "MD" was an [[honorary degree]] conferred by Oxford University.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p= 214}}}} The work of Waller, along with [[John Ward (academic)|John Ward]]'s ''Lives of the Gresham Professors'',{{sfnp|Ward|1740|p=169}} and [[John Aubrey]]'s ''Brief Lives''{{sfnp|Aubrey|1898}} form the major near-contemporaneous biographical accounts of his life.

Hooke was born in 1635 in [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight]], to Cecily Gyles and the Anglican priest John Hooke, who was the curate of [[All Saints' Church, Freshwater]].{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=23}} Robert was the youngest, by seven years, of four siblings (two boys and two girls); he was frail and not expected to live.{{sfnp|Martin|2000}}{{sfnp|Drake|1996|p=10}} Although his father gave him some instruction in English, [[Neo-Latin#Latin in school education 1500–1700|(Latin) Grammar]] and [[Divinity (academic discipline)|Divinity]], Robert's education was largely neglected.{{sfnp|Waller|1705|p=ii}} Left to his own devices, he made little mechanical toys; seeing a brass clock dismantled, he built a wooden replica that "would go".{{sfnp|Waller|1705|p=ii}}

Hooke's father died in October 1648, leaving £40 in his will to Robert (plus another £10 held over from his grandmother).{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=4}}{{efn|Aubrey says £100{{sfnp|Aubrey|1898|p=410}} but the will (Hampshire Record Office 1648B09/1) clearly states £40.{{sfnp|Nakajima|1994}} Adjusted for retail price inflation, £50 in 1648 equates to about £{{inflation|UK|50|1648|r=-2|fmt=c}} today;{{Inflation/fn|UK}} Gribbin and Gribbin estimate its purchasing power as rather closer to £20,000.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=4}} }} At the age of 13, he took this to London to become an apprentice to the celebrated painter [[Peter Lely]].{{sfnp|Nakajima|1994}} Hooke also had "some instruction in drawing" from the [[limner]] Samuel Cowper{{sfnp|Aubrey|1898|p=410}} but "the smell of the Oil Colours did not agree with his Constitution, increasing his Head-ache to which he was ever too much subject", and he became a pupil at [[Westminster School]], living with its master [[Richard Busby]].{{sfnp|Waller|1705|p=iii}} Hooke quickly mastered Latin, Greek and [[Euclid's Elements|Euclid's ''Elements'']];{{sfnp|O'Connor|Robertson|2002}} he also learnt to play the [[pipe organ|organ]]{{sfnp|Pugliese|2004}} and began his lifelong study of mechanics.{{sfnp|O'Connor|Robertson|2002}} He remained an accomplished draughtsman, as he was later to demonstrate in his drawings that illustrate the work of [[Robert Boyle]] and Hooke's own ''Micrographia''.{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|pp=87,88}}

=== Oxford ===
[[File:Robert Boyle 0001.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Robert Boyle]] by [[Johann Kerseboom]], at [[Gawthorpe Hall]], Lancashire]]

In 1653, Hooke secured a place at [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], receiving free tuition and accommodation as an [[organist]] and a [[chorister]], and a basic income as a [[servitor]],{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=65}}{{efn|According to Gribbin and Gribbin, the [[Puritanism|Puritan]] laws at the time forbade music in churches. The Mr Goodman to whom Hooke was nominally servitor was not an undergraduate at the time so Hooke was not required to perform any services in return.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=7}}}} despite the fact he did not officially [[matriculate]] until 1658.{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=65}}  In 1662, Hooke was awarded a [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] degree.{{sfnp|Pugliese|2004}} 

While a student at Oxford, Hooke was also employed as an assistant to Dr [[Thomas Willis]]{{snd}} a physician, chemist and member of the [[Oxford Philosophical Club]].{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=10}}{{efn|A chance-surviving copy of Willis's pioneering work {{lang|la|De anima brutorum}}, a gift from the author, was chosen by Hooke from Wilkins's library on his death as a memento at [[John Tillotson]]'s invitation. This book is now in the [[Wellcome Library]].{{sfnp|Hooke|1673}}}} The Philosophical Club had been founded by [[John Wilkins]], Warden of [[Wadham College]], who led this important group of scientists who went on to form the nucleus of the [[Royal Society]].{{sfnp|Syfret|1948|p=78}} In 1659, Hooke described to the Club some elements of a method of heavier-than-air flight but concluded human muscles were insufficient to the task.{{sfnp|Waller|1705|p=iv}} Through the Club, Hooke met [[Seth Ward (bishop of Salisbury)|Seth Ward]] (the University's [[Savilian Professor of Astronomy]])  and developed for Ward a mechanism that improved the regularity of pendulum clocks used for astronomical time-keeping.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=11}}  Hooke characterised his Oxford days as the foundation of his lifelong passion for science.{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=81}} The friends he made there, particularly [[Christopher Wren]], were important to him throughout his career. Willis introduced Hooke to [[Robert Boyle]], who the Club sought to attract to Oxford.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=15}}

In 1655, Boyle moved to Oxford and Hooke became nominally his assistant but in practice his co-experimenter.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=15}} Boyle had been working on gas pressures; the possibility a vacuum might exist despite [[Aristotle]]'s maxim "[[Horror vacui (physics)|Nature abhors a vacuum]]" had just [[Evangelista Torricelli#Barometer|begun to be considered]]. Hooke developed an air pump for Boyle's experiments rather than use [[Ralph Greatorex]]'s pump, which Hooke considered as "too gross to perform any great matter".{{sfnp|Fulton|1960|p=123}}  Hooke's engine enabled the development of the [[Boyles Law|eponymous law]] that was subsequently attributed to Boyle;{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=19}}{{efn|Gribbin and Gribbin say: "it is now widely accepted that it was Hooke who discovered what is now known as 'Boyle's Law' of gasses".{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=xiii}} Boyle published the law in his 1662 book but did not claim it as his own.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=19}}}} Hooke had a particularly keen eye and was an adept mathematician, neither of which applied to Boyle. Hooke taught Boyle [[Euclid's Elements|Euclid's ''Elements'']] and [[Descartes]]'s ''[[Principles of Philosophy]]'';{{sfnp|Aubrey|1898|p=411}} it also caused them to recognise [[fire]] as a chemical reaction and not, as Aristotle taught, a [[Classical element|fundamental element]] of nature.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|pp=19, 20}}

=== Royal Society ===
{{hatnote|Hooke's scientific work while employed by the Society is summarised in the section {{slink||Science}}, below.}}

According to Henry Robinson, Librarian of The Royal Society in 1935:
{{blockquote | Without his weekly experiments and prolific work the Society could scarcely have survived, or, at least, would have developed in a quite different way. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that he was, historically, the creator of the Royal Society.{{sfnp|Robinson|1935|p=[https://archive.org/details/diaryofroberthoo0000robe/page/n25/mode/1up xx] }}}}

The [[Royal Society|Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge by Experiment]]{{efn|Subsequently renamed "The Royal Society of London for Promoting Natural Knowledge"}} was founded in 1660 and given its [[Royal Charter]] in July 1662.{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=96}}  On 5 November 1661, [[Robert Moray]] proposed the appointment of a curator to furnish the society with experiments, and this was unanimously passed and Hooke was named on Boyle's recommendation.{{sfnp|Aubrey|1898|p=411}} The Society did not have a reliable income to fully fund the post of Curator of Experiments but in 1664, [[Sir John Cutler, 1st Baronet|John Cutler]] settled an annual gratuity of £50 on the Society to found a "{{notatypo|Mechanick}}" lectureship at Gresham College{{sfnp|Waller|1705|p=xi}} on the understanding the Society would appoint Hooke to this task.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=29}} On 27 June 1664, Hooke was confirmed to the office and on 11 January 1665, he was named Curator by Office for life with an annual salary of £80,{{efn|About £{{inflation|UK|80|1665|r=-2|fmt=c}} today, indexed by retail prices rather than earnings.}} which consisting of £30 from the Society and Cutler's £50 annuity.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=29}}{{efn|Cutler proved unreliable and Hooke had to sue him in following years to secure payment.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=29}} Following Cutler's death, Hooke enlisted the aid of friends of the Cutler family, including Master of [[The Haberdashers Company]] [[Richard Levett]], with whom Hooke was separately involved in a building commission, to help recover the funds Cutler owed.{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=23}} }}

In June 1663, Hooke was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (FRS).{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=28}} On 20 March 1665, he was also appointed [[Gresham Professor of Geometry]].{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=30}}{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=100}} On 13 September 1667, Hooke became acting Secretary of the Society{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=241}} and on 19 December 1677, he was appointed its Joint Secretary.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=247}}

=== Personality, relationships, health and death<span class="anchor" id="Personality and disputes"></span> ===
[[File:Acta Eruditorum - III fisica, 1707 – BEIC 13369403.jpg|thumb|Illustration from ''The posthumous works of Robert Hooke...'' published in ''[[Acta Eruditorum]]'', 1707]]

Although [[John Aubrey]] described Hooke as a person of "great virtue and goodness".{{sfnp|Drake|1996|p=5}} much has been written about the unpleasant side of Hooke's personality. According to his first biographer Richard Waller, Hooke was "in person, but despicable", and "melancholy, mistrustful, and jealous".{{sfnp|Waller|1705|p=xxvii}} Waller's comments influenced other writers for more than 200 years such that many books and articles{{snd}}especially biographies of [[Isaac Newton]]{{snd}}portray Hooke as a disgruntled, selfish, anti-social curmudgeon. For example, Arthur Berry said Hooke "claimed credit for most of the scientific discoveries of the time".{{sfnp|Berry|1898|page=221}} Sullivan wrote he was "positively unscrupulous" and had an "uneasy apprehensive vanity" in dealings with Newton.{{sfnp|Sullivan|1938|pages=35–37}} Manuel described Hooke as "cantankerous, envious, vengeful".{{sfnp|Manuel|1968|page=138}} According to More, Hooke had both a "cynical temperament" and a "caustic tongue".{{sfnp|More|1934| pages = 94–95}} Andrade was more sympathetic but still described Hooke as "difficult", "suspicious" and "irritable".{{sfnp|Andrarde|1950| pages = 56–57}} In October 1675, the Council of the Royal Society considered a motion to expel Hooke because of an attack he made on [[Christiaan Huygens]] over [[scientific priority]] in watch design but it did not pass.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=199, 200}} According to Hooke's biographer Ellen Drake:
{{Blockquote|if one studies the intellectual milieu of the time, the controversies and rivalries of the type in which he was involved seem almost to be the rule rather than the exception. And Hooke's reaction to such controversy involving his own discoveries and inventions seems mild in comparison to the behaviour of some of his contemporaries".{{sfnp|Drake|1996|p=104}}}} 

The publication of Hooke's diary in 1935{{sfnp|Robinson|1935}} revealed previously unknown details about his social and familial relationships. His biographer Margaret {{notatypo|'Espinasse}} said: "the picture which is usually painted of Hooke as a {{no break|morose ... }} recluse is completely false".{{sfnp|'Espinasse|1956|p=106}} He interacted with noted artisans such as clock-maker [[Thomas Tompion]]{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=145}} and instrument-maker Christopher Cocks (Cox).{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=159}} Hooke often met Christopher Wren, with whom he shared many interests, and had a lasting friendship with John Aubrey. His diaries also make frequent reference to meetings at coffeehouses and taverns, as well as to dinners with Robert Boyle. On many occasions, Hooke took tea with his lab assistant Harry Hunt. Although he largely lived alone{{snd}}apart from the servants who ran his home{{snd}} his niece Grace Hooke and his cousin Tom Giles lived with him for some years as children.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=227}}

Hooke never married. According to his diary, Hooke had a sexual relationship with his niece Grace, after she had turned 16. Grace was in his custody since the age of 10.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=140}}{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=257}} He also had sexual relations with several maids and housekeepers. Hooke's biographer Stephen Inwood considers Grace to have been the love of his life, and he was devastated when she died in 1687. Inwood also mentions "The age difference between him and Grace was commonplace and would not have upset his contemporaries as it does us". The incestous relationship would nevertheless have been frowned upon and tried by an ecclesiastical court had it been discovered, it was not however a capital felony after 1660.{{Sfnp|Inwood|2003|pp=138{{ndash}}140}}{{efn|Inwood considers it unlikely Hooke was father to a daughter by Grace, and it is more likely the father was Sir Robert Holmes, [[Governor of the Isle of Wight]].{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=252}} Jardine concurs.{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|p=257}} }}

Since childhood, Hooke suffered from [[migraine]], [[tinnitus]], dizziness and bouts of [[insomnia]];{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|pp=133{{ndash}}138}} he also had a spinal deformity that was consistent with a diagnosis of [[Scheuermann's kyphosis]], giving him in middle and later years a "thin and crooked body, over-large head and protruding eyes".{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=10}} Approaching these in a scientific spirit, he experimented with self-medication, diligently recording symptoms, substances and effects in his diary. He regularly used [[sal ammoniac]], emetics, laxatives and opiates, which appear to have had an increasing effect on his physical and mental health over time.{{sfnp|Jardine|2003|pp=216, 217}}

Hooke died in London on 3 March 1703, having been blind and bedridden during the last year of his life. A chest containing £8,000 in money and gold was found in his room at [[Gresham College]].{{sfn|Inwood|2003|p=4}}{{efn|About £{{inflation|UK|8000|1703|r=-5|fmt=c}} today.}} His library contained over 3,000 books in Latin, French, Italian and English.{{sfn|Inwood|2003|p=4}} Although he had talked of leaving a generous bequest to the Royal Society, which would have given his name to a library, laboratory and lectures, no will was found and the money passed to a cousin named Elizabeth Stephens.{{sfnp|Inwood|2003|p=3}} Hooke was buried at [[St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate]], in the [[City of London]]{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=218}} but the precise location of his grave is unknown.