homosporous Plants that produce a single type of
spore that develops into a bisexual gametophyte and
has both male and female sex organs.
homozygous Having two identical forms of a partic-
ular gene.
Hooke, Robert (1635–1703) English Physicist,
Astronomer Considered one of the greatest scientists of
the 17th century, and second only to Sir Isaac Newton,
Robert Hooke was born in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, on
July 18, 1635, the son of John Hooke, a clergyman.
He entered Westminster School in 1648 at the age
of 13, and then attended Christ College, Oxford, in
1653, where many of the best English scientists were
congregating, such as Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren
(astronomer), John Wilkins (founder of the Royal Soci-
ety), and William Petty (cartographer). He never
received a bachelor’s degree, was nominated for the
M.A. in 1663 by Lord Clarendon, the chancellor of the
university, and given an M.D. at Doctors’ Commons in
1691, also by patronage.
Hooke’s first publication of his own work in 1661
was a small pamphlet on capillary action. Shortly after,
in 1662, he was appointed the first curator of experi-
mentsat the newly founded Royal Society of London.
The society, also known as The Royal Society of Lon-
don for Improving Natural Knowledge, was founded
on November 28, 1660, to discuss the latest develop-
ments in science, philosophy, and the arts. The found-
ing fathers, consisting of 12 men, began after a lecture
by Christopher Wren at Gresham College. The group
included Wren, Boyle, John Wilkins, Sir Robert Moray,
and William Brouncker. This position gave Hooke a
unique opportunity to familiarize himself with the lat-
est progress in science.
Part of Hooke’s job was to demonstrate and lecture
on several experiments at the Royal Society at each
weekly meeting. This led him to many observations
and inventions in a number of fields, including astrono-
my, physics, and meteorology. He excelled at this job,
and in 1663 Hooke was elected a fellow of the society,
becoming not just an employee but on equal footing
with the other members.
Hooke took advantage of his experience and posi-
tion. He invented the first reflecting telescope, the spi-
ral spring in watches, an iris diaphragm for telescopes
(now used in cameras instead), the universal joint, the
first screw-divided quadrant, a compound microscope,
an odometer, a wheel-cutting machine, a hearing aid, a
new type of glass, and carriage improvements. Despite
all of these accomplishments, he remains one of the
most neglected scientists, due to his argumentative style
and the apparent retribution by his enemies such as
Newton.
Hooke became a professor of physics at Gresham
College in 1665 and stayed there for his entire life. It
was also where the Royal Society met until after his
death. Hooke also served as the society’s secretary from
1677 to 1683.
The year 1665 is another milestone year for
Hooke, since that is when he published his major work
Micrographia,the first treatment on microscopy, and
where he demonstrated his remarkable powers of
observation and his skillful microscopic investigation in
the fields of botany, chemistry, and meteorology. With-
in this work, he made many acute observations, illus-
trated with intricate drawings, and proposed several
theories.
Hooke was the first to discover plant cells and he
coined the wordcell,which he attributed to the porous
structure of cork, although he failed to realize that cells
werethe basic units of life. He made detailed observa-
tions, some of the first, on insects, sponges, bryozoans,
foraminifera, and even birds. He was the first to exam-
ine fossils under a microscope and concluded that
many fossils represented organisms that no longer
existed on Earth.
Because of his controversies—he had competing
claims with Christian Huyghens over the invention of
the spring regulator and with Newton, first over optics
(1672) and, second, over the formulation of the inverse
squarelaw of gravitation (1686)—Hooke fell out of
favor in the scientific community. He died in London on
March 3, 1703, and was buried in Bishopsgate. How-
ever, sometime in the 19th century his bones were
removed, and no one knows where he is buried today.hookworms Tiny parasitic nematode worms belong-
ing to the family Ancylostomatidae. They attach them-
selves to the intestinal walls of humans with hooked
mouthparts. Hookworms (Necator and Ancylostoma
spp.) are responsible for ancylostomiasis.166 homosporous