England's Leonardo

by Allan Chapman

"2003 marked the 300th anniversary of the death of Dr. Robert Hooke, a formidable and highly respected figure of 17th Century science. Hooke was one of the foremost exponents of the new 'experimental method', carrying out groundbreaking work across a wide spectrum of scientific disciplines, yet his reputation has long been overshadowed by his contemporary Sir Isaac Newton, with whom he came into a bitter rivalry. Yet Hooke was performing original researches into gravity whilst Newton was still an undergraduate, and in many ways Hooke's optical researches formed the springboard for Newton's. Hooke explored subjects as diverse as physiology, horology, astronomy and microscopy, his book Micrographia being a bestseller of the time. He was also Surveyor to the City of London following the Great Fire and a respected architect, the Royal College of Physicians and Bedlam hospital being amongst his work, while he cooperated with his friend Sir Christopher Wren on buildings including the Monumen