Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke
Georgia Priest
23 September 2011
1st period
Biology Honors
On July 18, 1635, Robert Hooke was born in the small community of Freshwater on the Isle of Wright. His father John Hooke was a clergyman, as a child Hooke had ingenuity for mechanics. When Hooke was thirteen his father committed suicide by hanging himself. Hooke was left one hundred pounds in inheritance from his father. Robert went to London after the death of his father as an apprentice to the painter Sir Peter Lely. Hooke’s inability to withstand the fumes of the pigments in the paint caused him to spend little time with Sir Lely. He then enrolled in Westminster School of Richard Busby. Where Busby saw the potential in Hooke for his mechanical skills and took him into his own home. In 1653 he left Westminster and went to Oxford and took the position of chorister at Christ Church. While attending Oxford Hooke studied astronomy. In 1662 he was chosen to be the Curator of experiments at the Royal Society. He was first to hold this position which was meant to be temporary, but was made permanent in 1655. Then in 1677 He was appointed Secretary to the Royal Society a position he held until 1682. In 1670 Robert Hooke released his law of elasticity which states that the stretching of a solid body is proportional to the force which is being applied to it. He was a fossil enthusiast and was the first to observe a fossil under a microscope. In 1665 Hooke’s book Micrographia was released the book contained elaborate drawings of various specimens that he had viewed under a compound microscope and elaborations on what he was viewing such as his theory on the cell, which he describe as a channel in the plant. Micrographia also contained Hooke’s theories on the fossil. Robert Hooke was also a colleague of Newton but he and Newton were not on the greatest of terms due to the fact that their ideas clashed at times and Newton did not give Hooke the recognition that he deserved for work that
Georgia Priest
23 September 2011
1st period
Biology Honors
On July 18, 1635, Robert Hooke was born in the small community of Freshwater on the Isle of Wright. His father John Hooke was a clergyman, as a child Hooke had ingenuity for mechanics. When Hooke was thirteen his father committed suicide by hanging himself. Hooke was left one hundred pounds in inheritance from his father. Robert went to London after the death of his father as an apprentice to the painter Sir Peter Lely. Hooke’s inability to withstand the fumes of the pigments in the paint caused him to spend little time with Sir Lely. He then enrolled in Westminster School of Richard Busby. Where Busby saw the potential in Hooke for his mechanical skills and took him into his own home. In 1653 he left Westminster and went to Oxford and took the position of chorister at Christ Church. While attending Oxford Hooke studied astronomy. In 1662 he was chosen to be the Curator of experiments at the Royal Society. He was first to hold this position which was meant to be temporary, but was made permanent in 1655. Then in 1677 He was appointed Secretary to the Royal Society a position he held until 1682. In 1670 Robert Hooke released his law of elasticity which states that the stretching of a solid body is proportional to the force which is being applied to it. He was a fossil enthusiast and was the first to observe a fossil under a microscope. In 1665 Hooke’s book Micrographia was released the book contained elaborate drawings of various specimens that he had viewed under a compound microscope and elaborations on what he was viewing such as his theory on the cell, which he describe as a channel in the plant. Micrographia also contained Hooke’s theories on the fossil. Robert Hooke was also a colleague of Newton but he and Newton were not on the greatest of terms due to the fact that their ideas clashed at times and Newton did not give Hooke the recognition that he deserved for work that