Robert Hooke's Experimental Philosophy - (Renaissance Lives) by Felicity Henderson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Robert Hooke was England's first professional scientist and a pioneer of science communication. He was also one of the earliest to write a guide for how others might become "experimental philosophers" like himself. In this new biography, Felicity Henderson takes Hooke's scientific method as a starting point for an expedition into what Hooke himself saw as key aspects of a scientific life. Tracing this expansive life, the story draws readers through marketplaces, bookshops, construction sites, and coffee houses--even into the King's royal presence at Whitehall Palace. Henderson explains how Hooke's observations and conversations with the workmen, colleagues, craftsmen, and patrons he met through his work underpinned Hooke's research in significant ways. The result is a fresh portrait of the scientist as a champion of the mundane, whose greatest gift was to help the world see even the smallest parts of everyday life with new eyes."--

Book Synopsis

A critical biography of the seventeenth-century scientist's expansive life and work.

Robert Hooke was England's first professional scientist and a pioneer of science communication. He was also one of the earliest to write a guide for how others might become "experimental philosophers" like himself. In this new biography, Felicity Henderson takes Hooke's scientific method as a starting point for an expedition into what Hooke himself saw as key aspects of a scientific life.

Tracing this expansive life, the story draws readers through marketplaces, bookshops, construction sites, and coffee houses--even into the King's royal presence at Whitehall Palace. Henderson explains how Hooke's observations and conversations with the workmen, colleagues, craftsmen, and patrons he met through his work underpinned Hooke's research in significant ways. The result is a fresh portrait of the scientist as a champion of the mundane, whose greatest gift was to help the world see even the smallest parts of everyday life with new eyes.

Review Quotes

"The history illuminates the formative early years of science as a scholarly discipline, and Henderson makes a strong case that Hooke's role in building that discipline has been unjustly overlooked."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Henderson's book provides a fresh and engaging view of Robert Hooke, giving a vivid sense of his milieu in the workshops and coffee-houses of Restoration London, exploring the new world that he brought to light in his Micrographia and other writings, and filling out the ambitions for knowledge outlined in his intriguingly entitled 'philosophical algebra.'"--Michael Hunter, author of 'The Decline of Magic: Britain in the Enlightenment'

"In this absorbing and wide-ranging study, Felicity Henderson charts the vast range of activities pursued by the virtuoso Robert Hooke, natural philosopher and architect, master of ingenious instruments and visionary projects. Hooke's remarkable enterprises are here used with great skill and wit to explore the effective methods of inquiry and innovation developed in early modernity, and to illuminate the vivid and active worlds of commerce, knowledge and controversy that flourished in Restoration London."--Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge

"In her splendid myth-busting account, Felicity Henderson searches out the true Robert Hooke, scrutinising his own words to reveal an inspired researcher who drew up the blueprint for modern science. Beautifully written and illustrated, this penetrating book explores the thoughts and activities of a man who profoundly influenced the future."--Patricia Fara, author of 'Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career'

About the Author

Felicity Henderson is a senior lecturer in archives and material culture at the University of Exeter. She has written widely about Robert Hooke.