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Robert Hooke was born in 1635 in Freshwater, Isle of Wight; his father was John Hooke who was a curate at All Saints Church and also ran a small school attached to the church. Robert had poor health and was not expected to reach adulthood. Had Robert enjoyed good health as a child he would have probably have followed the family tradition into the church. Robert's parents gave up on his education, leaving him much to his own devices. Robert used his observational skills and mechanical skills well. 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; and he also showed skills at drawing and painting. At the death of his father in 1648, Robert was left £40 by his father, together with all his father's books, and his family sent him to London to become an apprentice to Peter Lely, a portrait painter. Robert decided not to waste his money studying under Lely, and that he really needed a prpper school education. He enrolled in Westminster School, boarding in the house of the headmaster Richard Busby. Hooke was fortunate to come under the influence of Busby who was an outstanding teacher, and who quickly realised that he was quite a remarkable pupil. Hooke mastered the first six books of Euclid's Elements by the end of his first week at school, but Busby seemed to understand that formal learning was not going to be best for Hooke and so encouraged him to study by himself in his library. He rapidly gained understanding of geometry which was soon applied to his real love of mechanics and he began to invent possible flying machines. Music was another of his interests and he learnt to play the organ. In 1653, feeling that he had assimilated as much knowledge as Westminster School could offer, he entered Christ Church, Oxford where he won a chorister's place. At Oxford was a particularly significant time for Thomas Willis, Seth Ward, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, John Wallis, Christopher Wren and William Petty were among those who regularly met. In Oxford Hooke learnt astronomy from Seth Ward and impressed Wilkins with his knowledge of mechanics. Wilkins gave him a copy of his book Mathematical Magick, or the wonders that may be performed by mechanical geometry which he had published five years before Hooke arrived in Oxford; encouraging Hooke to continue to try to invent a flying machine and he conducted experiments in the grounds of Wadham College with pulleys. For a while Hooke assisted Willis with his dissection experiments. He was involved with the top English scientists of the day, benefiting greatly by acquiring skills in a wide range of disciplines. From 1655 he was employed by Boyle, and his first project was to construct an air pump. A better air pump than that used by von Guericke had been made by Greatorix but Hooke felt that he could improve on the design. Indeed he did so and Hooke designed and built what is essentially the modern air pump. Hooke held three appointments of considerable significance. From 1662 he was appointed Curator of Experiments at the newly formed Royal Society; his task was '..to furnish the Society [once a week] with three or four considerable experiments...', so it is as well that ideas came to him very quickly. As a result he seldom worked out his researches to their fullest extent before moving on, and indeed for some of them did not have the mathematical expertise. Other people, more focused, often developed the work to a point where they would justifiably receive credit for it. This frequently affronted Hooke since the indebtedness to his work was not always acknowledged, and he was often acerbically critical of the work of others. Realising the weakness of the pendulum clock in keeping time on a ship which was pitching and tossing. Rather than the balance wheel being controlled by a pendulum which in turn operated through gravity, he reasoned that controlling the balance wheel with a spring would have huge advantages for a portable timekeeper that one might carry around or one which would have to continue to keep the correct time on a ship. Beginning his experiments around 1658 he had made two significant steps by 1660, namely the use of a balance controlled by a spiral spring and an improved escapement called the anchor escapement. On Wednesday 28 November 1660 a meeting in Gresham College constituted the Society for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning which they declared would promote experimental philosophy. Hooke's first publication was a pamphlet on capillary action. On 10 April 1661 his paper was read to the Society in which he showed that the narrower the tube, the higher water rose in it. The Society at Gresham had by this time petitioned King Charles II to recognise it and to make a royal grant of incorporation. The Royal Charter, which was passed by the Great Seal on 15 July 1662, created the Royal Society of London and the Royal Charter contained a provision to appoint a Curator of Experiments. The Society already had in mind appointing Hooke to this position and indeed on 5 November 1662 he was given the position. This position was entirely unpaid. He was elected to the Royal Society on 3 June 1663 and, although he was still receiving no payment, at least the Society was prepared to allow him to become a Fellow without paying the annual fees. In 1664 the Society agreed to pay Hooke a salary of £80 per year but shortly after this they arranged the position of Cutlerian Lecturer in the Mechanical Arts for him at a salary of £50 per year and then reduced his salary as Curator of Experiments to £30 but gave him an appointment for life. He did however secure the appointment of Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, being appointed there in 1665. The position gave him rooms at the College and required him to give one lecture each week in term time. The year 1665 was the one when Hooke first achieved worldwide scientific fame. His book Micrographia, published that year, contained beautiful pictures of objects Hooke had studied through a microscope he had made himself. The book also contains a number of fundamental biological discoveries. Pepys described it as, "the most ingenious book that ever I read in my life". Hooke invented the conical pendulum and was the first person to build a Gregorian reflecting telescope. He made important astronomical observations including the fact that Jupiter revolves on its axis which he discovered from observing spots. He then invented a helioscope to attempt to measure the rotation of the sun using sunspots. He made drawings of Mars which were later used to determine its period of rotation. He observed several comets and asked a number of important questions about them, including why the tail points away from the sun, and how if the comet is burning it could burn for so long and burn in a place where there is no air. In 1666 he proposed that gravity could be measured using a pendulum.
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