Authors:
- Focuses on Hooke’s role as simultaneously an employee of the Society and its intellectual center for 30 years
- First book which incorporates the insights gained from the newly discovered "Hooke Folio" of 2006
- Demonstrates how Hooke provided Newton with the key to understanding planetary orbital motion, an insight which led Newton to his great work, the Principia
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Science Networks. Historical Studies (SNHS, volume 39)
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Table of contents (14 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
A contemporary of Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton, and close friend of all but Newton, Robert Hooke (1635-1703), one of the founders of the early scientific revolution, faded into almost complete obscurity after his death and remained there for nearly three centuries. The result has been that his role in the scientific revolution has been almost totally ignored. He was the first professional scientist worthy of the name, working for the young Royal Society of London as its curator of experiments for four decades. He became the Society’s intellectual center, and for a while its Secretary, roles which led to confrontation with Newton. He made important contributions to pneumatics, mechanics, microscopy, astronomy, and geology, and was partner to Wren in rebuilding London after the Fire.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“Each chapter is abundantly annotated. These annotations do more than just give a source: they are often quite descriptive in themselves. … This book describes the life of Hooke as well as his scientific contributions. Reading this book will enable one to see Hooke as the eclectic gentleman that he was. Anyone interested in Hooke or the London scientific community of the 17th century will certainly enjoy perusing it.” (Herbert E. Kasube, The Mathematical Association of America, August, 2010)Authors and Affiliations
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Dept. Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA
Robert D. Purrington
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The First Professional Scientist
Book Subtitle: Robert Hooke and the Royal Society of London
Authors: Robert D. Purrington
Series Title: Science Networks. Historical Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0346-0037-8
Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, History (R0)
Copyright Information: Birkh�user Basel 2009
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-0346-0036-1Published: 16 July 2009
eBook ISBN: 978-3-0346-0037-8Published: 29 September 2009
Series ISSN: 1421-6329
Series E-ISSN: 2296-6080
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 283
Topics: History of Science