On this day in 1665, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary:
“Before I went to bed I sat up till two o’clock in my chamber reading of Mr Hooke’s Microscopicall Observations [Micrographia], the most ingenious book that ever I read in my life”.
Robert Hooke was elsewhere memorably described by Pepys as “the most, and promises the least, of any man in the world that I ever saw”. He was evidently a brilliant, but curmudgeonly, polymath: not only a pioneer microscopist, but also one of the founder members of the Royal Society in 1660, and an architect, who worked alongside Wren on the reconstruction of London following the Great Fire of 1666 (*).
Monument, where there is a memorial to him, is visited on various of our walks, including the “Post-Medieval (Tudor and Stuart) London”, “Post-Medieval (Tudor and Stuart) City Highlights” and “The Great Fire of London” themed specials.
Further details of all our walks are available in the Our Guided Walks section of this web-site.
Bookings may be made through the “Contact/Booking” section of the web-site, or by e-mail (lostcityoflondon@sky.com).
(*) Readers interested in further details of the life and works of this extraordinary man are referred to the biography entitled “The Curious Life of Robert Hooke … “ by the late Lisa Jardine, originally published by HarperCollins in 2003.
Thanks for your kind words. I, too, love Rita Greer’s portraits of Hooke. The one I illustrated the blog with shows him at his desk in Christ Church, Oxford, with his microscope at his side.
I just ordered that book! Yes, I too just love Rita Greer’s work.
Thanks for your wonderful London posts. I love Rita Greer’s picture of Robert Hooke and now I have a book to find!