G K Chesterton

The Man Who Knew Too Much Illustrated G K Chesterton

Robert Hooke was one of the most inventive, versatile and prolific scientists of the late 17th century, but for 300 years his reputation has been overshadowed by those of his two great contemporaries: his friend Sir Christopher Wren and his rival Sir Isaac Newton. If he is remembered now, it is as the author of a law of elasticity or as a misanthrope who accused Newton of stealing his ideas on gravity.