Micrographia (1665) [pdf]
21 comments
·June 10, 2025hermitcrab
dr_dshiv
Hooke was a somewhat lower class than the other gentlemen in the Royal Society. He was put in charge of actually producing the demonstrations for the society as “Chief Curator.” His lower class status was useful because he could engage with builders/craftsmen and be present in the pubs and meeting houses to pick up information that was otherwise unavailable to the upper class gentlemen.
It was for this reason that he could introduce things like cannabis (“the account of the plant”) to the royal society. Yet, we was also very much into esoteric philosophy and occult wisdom — much of which came from his upper class access with Boyle (an alchemist)
He also assisted sir Christopher Wren as chief surveyor in rebuilding London after the great fire.
An astonishing career. Total polymath.
dcminter
He was fascinating. For those interested in reading further I thought this book on him was excellent: https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/0333782860
MrDrDr
Newton also (allegedly) lost Hooke’s portrait when the Royal Society moved. The two did not get on.
hermitcrab
Newton also used (abused) his position as head of the Royal Society to wage a long and bitter feud with Leibnitz over who invented calculus.
Newton was undoubtedly:
a) One of the greatest geniuses who ever lived.
b) A total shit.
mellosouls
Possibly a later myth; the saying predates Newton - also the perceived slight was actually against Hooke's supposed curved spine rather than his height I think.
troymc
Here's a quote that predates Newton by some centuries:
"We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size." -- John of Salisbury, The Metalogicon (1159)
https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/978019...
hermitcrab
>Possibly a later myth
It is apparently in one of his letters - to Hooke.
teddyh
Canonical link: <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15491>
system2
That intro page is wild.
> Your Majesties most humble and most obedient Subject and Servant, ROBERT HOOKE.
caporaltito
> I do here most humbly lay this small Present at Your Majesties Royal feet.
That guy REALLY needed another royal grant for his research
pixelpoet
I thought you'd made a typo with "Majesties" but no, it's really spelt that way. "Accompany'd", too. Time to go read up on that, apparently playing the Ultima games wasn't enough to learn this aspect of Old English...
And yeah, wild that this is the Hooke of Hooke's law!
Sabacak
It's early Modern English not Old. Old English is the language of Beowulf.
Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
troymc
Micel mē þynceð þanc, þæt þū gemanst
mǣl-gespreca ealdra.
Wæs þū hāl.
alessivs
Ultima games incorporate archaic language constructs in their dialogues and texts, but they are fictionalized rather than historically informed. I call it "langfic" (as in "fanfic"). The French edition of U7 is also notorious for featuring old vocabulary, but does so mixing up constructs from different eras and reforms. While the effort on the English edition is much more convincing, I wouldn't bank on it as a reference of its use; instead, I would turn to more scholarly sources that examine Early Modern English in depth.
incognito124
Also known as a royal plural
satiric
It's a possessive, right? I.e. "Your Majesty's most humble and most obedient servant and subject"?
dgctbu
[dead]
curtisszmania
[dead]
Fun fact:
Robert Hooke was rather short of stature. His great rival, Isaac Newton, was petty and vindictive. So when Newton said:
"if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Rather than being humble, he may have actually been having a sly dig at Hooke.