Robert Hooke: Biography and Cell Theory

Robert hooke He was a British scientist also known as"the man of the Renaissance"in seventeenth-century England. He got this name thanks to his extensive work in areas of science such as biology, physics and astronomy. He graduated from Oxford and dedicated himself to work with the Royal Society of Sciences and with the Gresham School.

He was the first scientist who discovered the law of elasticity; in fact, scientific theory is called Hooke's Law of Elasticity, in honor of this scientist.

He was a very controversial figure, particularly towards the end of his life. Isaac Newton was the enemy, who was in charge of destroying the only Hooke portrait that existed. It is said that the dispute was because Hooke wanted to take credit for having influenced Newton in the writing of his most famous work: Principia mathematica .

Biography

Robert Hooke was born on July 18, 1635 in the village of Freshwater, located on the Isle of Wight, in England. His father, a curator of the local church, was John Hooke; and his mother's name was Cecily Gyles.

From a very young age, Hooke proved to have a fairly high level of intelligence; in fact, they come to consider him a child prodigy. However, he used to get sick easily.

During its growth, its intelligence was complemented by its interest in painting and the elaboration of mechanical toys, as well as in the creation of models. When he was 13 his father died, then he was sent to study in London under the tutelage of Peter Lely, a successful painter of the time.

Education

His connection with painting was not prolonged. Shortly after arriving in London he joined the Westminster School and at 18 he enrolled in the School of the Church of Christ in Oxford. There he worked as an assistant to one of the scientific professors in order to finance the cost of his education.

It was during his stay in Oxford that Hooke was able to make friends with several important personalities of the time, including Christopher Wren. This was fundamental later in his life, as he gave the assignment to Hooke that resulted in the development of his cell theory.

Professional life

The teacher he had attended during his stay at the Oxford School was Robert Boyle, a leading scientist of the time. This gave him the position of curator in the Royal Society of Sciences in London, which shortly after was a member.

Many of the scientists of the time did not require an income, since they came from wealthy families; however, this was not the case with Hooke. The scientist accepted a job as professor of geometry at the Gresham School, also in London.

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, he worked with his friend and now architect Christopher Wren as a surveyor of the city. He helped rebuild London by designing several of its buildings and structures again.

During his professional life he never married. He always lived with his niece, Grece Hooke, who at some point in his life was also his lover.

Personal conflicts

Being curator of ideas of the Royal Society, it is said that in many occasions Hooke assumed the credit of ideas of others. Throughout his career he had countless disputes with the most prominent scientists of the time.

He argued mainly with Oldenburg, for filtering his ideas; and with Newton, since he said that the mathematical principles that the discoverer of the Law of gravity wrote had been influenced by Hooke himself.

In many cases, his reputation was damaged by his personality and by how conflictive he was. However, he was a prominent scientist. He had an unparalleled experimental facility, as well as an ability to work hard that few scientists of the time had.

Discoveries and contributions

Hooke's contributions were not limited to a specific area of ​​science. He studied several astronomical theories, comets, the rotation movement of Jupiter, the memory of human beings and even light and gravity.

He was a scientist who stuck to traditional methods of experimentation and observation. Because of this, his theories were proven by him.

Its most important publication, which continues to be praised until today, was Micrographia . In this document he analyzed all the results he obtained through his experiments with the microscope. He used the term"cell"for the first time while documenting the structure of the cork.

He was also the one who proposed the theory of elasticity, in his publication known as Spring conferences . In his theory, which came to be known as Hooke's Law, he proposed that the force needed to extend or compress a spring is proportional to the distance at which it is intended to be delivered.

Cell theory

When Hooke was 26 years old, Christopher Wren delegated the task to him to elaborate a series of important microscopic studies, that originally had been assigned to him by the king of England.

Originally he had been asked to analyze only insects, but he decided to go further and analyzed the properties of several elements, including cork, urine, blood and coal.

He used microscopes with a great focus, with a design that he had created. This allowed him to analyze the properties of objects much more accurately.

He analyzed the cork when he realized that there were very small openings that were contained in microscopic walls. He described them as"cells,"a term that passed into the history of science and for which Hooke received credit, deservedly.

All of his discoveries, including the cellular theory he proposed, are included in his publication of Micrographia . In addition, Hooke was the first scientist to calculate the number of cells in a cubic inch, an amount that exceeds 1250 million.

He is credited with having discovered the fundamental pillars of life in his book, and although in life he could never appreciate the reach of his cell theory, he correctly understood the large number of cells that make up every object and living entity.

References

1. Robert Hooke and The Discovery of the Cell, The Science of Aging, (n.d.). Taken from science-of-aging.com
2. Microscope history: Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703), History of the Microscope Online, (n.d.). Taken from history-of-the-microscope.org
3. Robert Hooke Biography, (n.d.). Taken from biography.com
4. Robert Hooke - British Scientist, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, March 22, 2018. Taken from Britannica.com
5. Robert Hooke, Wikipedia en Español, March 8, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org