The Curious Life of Robert Hooke by Lisa Jardine, HarperCollins, £ 25, ISBN 0007149441 Reviewed by David Hughes
COMBINE a controversial 17th-century scientist, who rose from obscurity on the Isle of Wight to the heights of professor of geometry and natural philosophy at Gresham College, London, with the proven biographical skills of a modern-day professor of Renaissance studies a few miles away in the same city at Queen Mary and Westfield College London, and the result is a riveting story of intrigue, missed opportunities and supposedly underestimated genius.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) is the scientist. He was one of the major players…
