Friday 11th April 2025 Robert Hooke FRS – A half-forgotten scientific genius

Professor Alan Bassindale

Friday11th April2025 7.30 pm in the BRLSI, Bath, and on Zoom

The image is the flea from Micrographia by Robert Hooke

Robert Hooke FRS, 1635-1703, was the first professional scientist and he played a key role in developing contemporary experimental science. He was an outstanding scientist, engineer, astronomer (laying foundations for William Hershel), architect, artist, microscopist, and a pioneer in many other fields. He was not simply an observer; he always sought to explain his observations and experiments and frequently developed new theories. The most familiar aspects of his legacy today are: Micrographia, his groundbreaking book on the microscopic world, with his wonderful illustrations, including the flea; the Monument, a giant zenith telescope and a memorial to the great fire of London; and Hooke’s law of elasticity, now taught in Key Stage 3 physics.

His observations and theories about fossils paved the way for the work Charles Moore, whose fossil collection is in the care of BRLSI.

Alan Bassindale will suggest that Hooke’s childhood on the Isle of Wight helps us to explain his extensive range of lifelong interests. He will illuminate Hooke’s achievements as a scientist using both Micrographia and his astronomical discoveries. Alan will discuss Hooke’s various feuds, with Newton and others, that may have contributed to his relative obscurity.

Alan Bassindale is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of The Open University. He has a longstanding interest in the history of science.

Tickets (£6 or £3 for BRLSI or Herschel Society members and students, proceeds to the BRLSI) available here.