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Robert Hooke was born on 28th July 1635, in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, where his father was curate of the church of All Saints.
After early home teaching by his father, he was educated at Westminster School and Oxford University. He spent most of his adult life living in Gresham College in the City of London, where he died on 3rd March 1703. He was buried in St Helen's church, Bishopsgate, London, but his remains, together with many others, were exhumed in the late 19th century and are assumed now to be buried in the City of London cemetery in Wanstead. A memorial window in the church, erected by "private subscription", was destroyed by IRA bombing in 1992. There is a blue plaque on a building nearby.
Apart from Waller's Posthumous works of 1705, which includes a "Life" (see the Bibliography), accounts by Hooke's contemporaries include:
John Ward's account of the Gresham College professors (1740) includes a long biography of Hooke:
Thomas Sprat's history was "supplemented and continued" by Thomas Birch in 1756. Birch explained in his preface that "Admired as his [Sprat's] performance is in general ... the earliest and ablest members of that body, as well as their successors, still wished that the account of its institution and progress had been more full and circumstantial in the narration of the facts related by him, and inlarged by inserting many others of equal importance which were omitted".
Although now enhanced and partially superseded by more recent scholarship, R.T. Gunther's Early science in Oxford (1930-38), is still a rich source of information on Hooke's life and work, including many facsimile copies of Hooke's writing in his own hand. Of the fifteen volumes in the series, no fewer than five are wholly devoted to Hooke. The whole series is freely available online from the Internet Archive:
The diary of Robert Hooke, 1672-1680 edited by H.W. Robinson and Walter Adams (Taylor & Francis, 1935) also includes an account of Hooke's life (password required for copyright reasons).
Above: A view of Freshwater village and church, reproduced from an engraving by Thomas Barber published in 1834. The field called "Crundell" is on the left, and Hooke's childhood home is on what is now called Hooke Hill on the far side of this field. (Image 1)
Below: Robert Hooke's family home on Hooke Hill, Freshwater, pictured in about 1880 and now demolished. (Image 2)
Apart from Gunther, there are many other biographies of Hooke available online. Amongst the most useful are:
A number of talks and programmes about Hooke and his work are freely available online. As in his own day, Gresham College still offers free public lectures:
Other presentations include:
See also the books and diaries listed in the Bibliography.
So far as we know, all of the images reproduced on this page are in the public domain. We shall immediately take down on demand any that are still in copyright.
Page last amended 26th January 2025