Robert Hooke: Tercentennial Studies

by Hunter,Michael; Cooper,Michael

• ISBN13: 9780754653653
• ISBN10: 075465365X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was a genius whose wide-ranging achievements are at last receiving the recognition that they deserve. Long overshadowed by such eminent contemporaries as Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Christopher Wren, Hooke's own seminal contributions to science, architecture and technology are now being acclaimed in their own right. Curator of Experiments to the Royal Society when it was chartered in 1662 and author of the famous Micrographia (1665), Hooke also showed unparalleled ingenuity in designing machines and instruments, and played a crucial role as Surveyor to the City of London after the Great Fire. This volume represents a benchmark in the study of Hooke, bringing together a comprehensive set of studies of different aspects of his life, thought and artistry. Its sections deal with Hooke's life and reputation; his contributions to celestial mechanics and astronomy, and to speculative natural philosophy; the instruments that he designed; and his work in architecture and construction. The introduction places the studies in the context of our current understanding of Hooke and his milieu, while the book also contains a comprehensive bibliography. In all, it will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in a figure whose complexity and importance are becoming clear after centuries of neglect.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	vii
List of Contributors	xi
Introduction	xiii
Acknowledgements	xxi
Part 1 Celestial Mechanics and Astronomy
Robert Hooke's Seminal Contribution to Orbital Dynamics	3	(30)
Michael Nauenberg
Hooke's Programme: Final Thoughts	33	(16)
Ofer Gal
Robert Hooke as an Astronomer	49	(16)
Hideto Nakajima
Part 2 Instruments for Natural Philosophy
Instruments and Ingenuity	65	(12)
Jim Bennett
Hooke's Design for a Driven Equatorial Mounting	77	(12)
Allan Mills
John Hennessy
Stephen Watson
Assessment of the Scientific Value of Hooke's Work	89	(22)
S. H. Joseph
Part 3 Speculative Philosophy
Hooke on Memory and the Memory of Hooke	111	(12)
Douwe Draaisma
Graphic Technologies	123	(12)
Nick Wilding
Hooke's Ideas of the Terraqueous Globe and a Theory of Evolution	135	(18)
Ellen Tan Drake
Part 4 Architecture and Construction
Hooke and Bedlam	153	(12)
Jacques Heyman
Robert Hooke's Montagu House	165	(16)
Alison Stoesser
The `Mechanick Artist' in Late Seventeenth-Century English and French Architecture	181	(22)
Hentie Louw
Part 5 Life and Reputation
Robert Hooke: Gentleman of Science	203	(16)
Mordechai Feingold
Hooke and Westminster	219	(14)
Edward Smith
After the Principia	233	(14)
Robert D. Purrington
Robert Hooke: A Reputation Restored	247	(12)
Lisa Jardine
Bibliography	259	(40)
Notes	299	(28)
Index	327