Forgotten though he may have been, this is the second biography of Hooke to appear this season (after Lisa Jardine's The Curious Life of Robert Hooke,
Forecasts, Nov. 17, 2003). The next time you open a window, thank Robert Hooke, who invented the modern sash window. Or thank him when you're driving your car, for Hooke invented the universal joint, indispensable in transmissions. In this extensively researched biography, Inwood (A History of London
), like Jardine, wants to rehabilitate Hooke's reputation after centuries of denigration due mainly to Hooke's celebrated disputes with Isaac Newton and other luminaries like Hevelius, Huygens and Leibniz, whom he accused of taking credit for his discoveries. In addition to his work as a scientist, Hooke played an important role alongside Christopher Wren in rebuilding London after the devastating fire of 1666; Inwood argues that history has credited to Wren many buildings that were actually designed by Hooke. Hooke's mind-boggling breadth of interests can be compared only with da Vinci's, and he was equally prescient: his argument with Newton over the nature of light (wave or particle?) was 200 years ahead of its time, and he anticipated Lyell and Darwin in his firm belief in the cataclysmic history of the earth's surface. This book complements Jardine's: Inwood provides substantially more insight into Hooke's career as a scientist and the better account of the quarrels with Newton, but Jardine paints a more vivid portrait of Hooke the man. Both biographies are recommended for readers interested in early modern science. 37 illus. Agent, David Godwin.
(Apr. 19)
