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Also, the series will succinctly discuss thrilling events you perhaps never heard but really matters. And take you to a various destinations you least imagined. Watch out for the publication every Monday right here on our website – passnownow.com
Today, we’re discussing the life and time of Robert Hooke. You know him?
Science students or good biology students are familiar with the name Robert Hooke.
We remember Hookes’ law of elasticity, the compound microscope. This not so popular scientist was behind these inventions and many others your teacher did not tell you in the classroom.
Robert Hooke is described by his contemporaries as “the most inventive man who ever lived”. He was born in 1635.
Science students are very familiar with Boyle’s gas law propounded by Robert Boyle, the eminent British physicist and chemist. The gas pump Boyle used to perform the experiment that gave birth to the gas law was developed by Hooke. Robert Boyle was Hooke’s academic advisor in Oxford University.
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The device that regulates the aperture size of cameras i.e. the iris diaphragm was created by Hooke. Hooke also created the universal joint which is used in today’s motor. One of his remarkable achievements was his design of the compound microscope which was later built by a famous instrument maker, Christopher Cock.
Hooke was also the first person to examine fossils under a microscope which brought him to the conclusion that fossils are the remains of long dead organisms.
Hooke also built one of the earliest Gregorian telescopes and observed the rotations of Mars and Jupiter.
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His book, Micrographia which means ‘small drawings’ contains drawings of his observations with the aid of his microscope. One of his most remarkable drawings was that of the Flea. It is alleged that ladies fainted on sighting the drawing.
He was appointed surveyor together with his friend, Christopher Wren, to rebuild the City of London after the Great fire of London in 1666.
Hooke died in 1703. His health deteriorated sharply in 1697, his sight and his legs began to fail him and he became increasingly ill-tempered and miserly. He finally died in his rooms at Gresham College in the City, alone in the middle of the night, at the age of sixty-seven. (read more). Historians believe he was buried somewhere in North London but the specific place his remains were buried is not known.
Many Science students can state the laws of gravity. However, it will interest you to know that Hooke developed most of the components of the theory. But why is the law of gravity credited to Sir Isaac Newton? What really happened? Why were the works of this great inventor lost in the shadows of obscurity?
Find out in our next issue on Remarkable People, Places & Events where we will focus on the life and times of Sir Isaac Newton
This writer has deliberately left out one famous contribution made by Robert Hooke?
Hooke made a major contribution in the field of Biology. So, tell us in a comment the major contribution to biology of this great but forgotten inventor?
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
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