Lisa Jardine.
LISA JARDINE: ROBERT HOOKE BIOGRAPHY
THE CURIOUS LIFE OF ROBERT HOOKE: THE MAN WHO MEASURED LONDON (2004)
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The Americans Charles and Ray Eames were two of the most famous designers of the mid 20th century. They were voraciously curious about everyday objects from around the world, about materials, and about manufacturing processes. Their extraordinary skills ranged across industrial design, furniture design,
Robert Hooke was an extraordinarily versatile scientist of the 17th century. Educated at Westminster School, he quickly grasped Euclid, Latin and Greek, as well as playing the organ. He began his lifetime study of mechanics, becoming a skilful draghtsman. In 1653, Hooke obtained a place at Christ Church, Oxford University, being given free tuition and accommodation as chorister and organist. He developed a mechanism for improving the accuracy of pendulum clocks for astronomical research, and became assistant to the famous scientist Robert Boyle. In 1661 Hooke was appointed, on Boyle’s recommendation to the post of curator, and chief experimenter, at the Royal Society. His eperiments covered a wide field, including anatomy, astronomy, mechanics, microscopy, and gravity.
The Guardian wrote of Jardine’s biography: ‘Jardine sets out to penetrate the obscurity and show us the man…a fascinating, impeccably researched account.’ The Sunday Times wrote: ‘Not nearly as well known today as his close friend Wren of his bitter enemy Newton, Hooke did as much as either of them to define the intellectual character of his age.’
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Lisa Jardine, who died in 2015, was Director of the Research Centre for Editing Lives and Letters, and Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, London University; she was also an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Jardine was born in Oxford, the daughter of the mathematician Jacob Bronowski and Rita Coblentz, a sculptor. She read mathematics and English at Newnham College, Cambridge, and an MA is the Literary Theory of Translation at the University of Essex. She was fluent in Greek, Latin, and six other languages.
