“Fascinating. . . . Jardine takes a complex view, according Hooke with the respect and dignity that eluded him for so long. . . [and] with this compelling and empathetic portrait, she succeeds in making a convincing case for his place in history. . . [as] a founding father in Europe’s scientific revolution.”   —  Los Angeles Times The brilliant, largely forgotten maverick Robert Hooke was an engineer, surveyor, architect, and inventor who worked tirelessly with his intimate friend Christopher Wren to rebuild London after the Great Fire of 1666. He was the first Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society, and his engravings of natural phenomena seen under the new microscope appeared in his masterpiece, the acclaimed Micrographia, one of the most influential volumes of the day. But Hooke's irascible temper and his passionate idealism proved fatal for his relationships with important political figures, most notably Sir Isaac Newton: their quarrel is legendary. As a result, historical greatness eluded Robert Hooke. Eminent historian Lisa Jardine does this original thinker of indefatigable curiosity and imagination justice and allows him to take his place as a major figure in the seventeenth century intellectual and scientific revolution. Because victors write history, Newton looms large in the chronicles of Western science while the contentious hunchback who once challenged him for primacy survives as a mere footnote. In this lucid biography, Jardine acknowledges that Hooke erred in attacking Newton, but she refuses to let Hooke's contentiousness eclipse his considerable contributions to British culture. Highlighting the obstacles facing a fatherless boy from a family of ruined fortunes, Jardine chronicles Hooke's plucky rise as a maker of precision scientific instruments, a keen-eyed illustrator, and a geometrically acute architect and surveyor. Readers see a remarkable man parlay diverse gifts into a career that included serving as lead surveyor of London after the Great Fire of 1666, collaborating with Wren on landmark architectural projects, and creating Micrographia, a sensationally illustrated work of microscopic research. But Jardine also discerns pathos in the career of a man who pursued so many disciplines that he finally frustrated his own ambition to join Copernicus, Kepler, and, yes, Newton in the pantheon of theoretical scientists. A remarkably coherent portrait of a kaleidoscopic figure. Bryce Christensen Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “Thrilling…Jardine comes up with some startling discoveries…[and] is excellent at placing Wren in the historical and intellectual context of his time.” - Daily Telegraph (London) “Imaginative, fluent and scholarly … it helps round out our understanding of a man who is both famous and simultaneously unknown, even unknowable.” - London Times “[Jardine’s] well-documented presentation of Hooke’s relations with the scientific community of a late 17th-century London he helped to reshape is a tour de force - social history as well as biography.” - New York Times Book Review “Hook was undoubtedly one of the great polymaths of his age. From chemistry and clock making to architecture and inventing, mathematics and monuments, the recklessly unspecialized Hooke combined practical genius with a formidable intellect…. Jardine’s biography… is a wonderful testament to … [Hooke’s] unacknowledged greatness, one that spurs us to grant Hooke the recognition he surely deserves.” - Boston Globe “First rate … both learned and delightfully readable.” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Fascinating … Jardine takes a complex view, according Hooke with the respect and dignity that eluded him for so long …[and] with this compelling and empathetic portrait, she succeeds in making a convincing case for his place in history …[as] a founding father in Europe’s scientific revolution.” - Los Angeles Times “Sure to become the standard life of Hooke.” - Publishers Weekly “[Jardine’s] lucid and easy-reading prose paints a vivid portrait of a curiously overlooked historical figure.” - Washington Post Book World “Hooke was one of the great public figures of seventeenth-century London … [Jardine] places him squarely at the center of the intellectual ferment of his time.” - Natural History Magazine “[Jardine] … convincingly restores [Hooke] to a prominent position in 17th century cultural life, as one of the brilliant polymaths who made London a capital of modern science and as a leader among the dedicated citizens who raised their city from the ashes.” - Newsday The brilliant, largely forgotten maverick Robert Hooke was an engineer, surveyor, architect and inventor who was appointed London's Chief Surveyor after the Great Fire of 1666. Throughout the 1670s he worked tirelessly with his intimate friend Christopher Wren to rebuild London, personally designing many notable public and private buildings, including the Monument to the Fire. He was the first Curator of Exp