e may gather that Von
Guericke himself did not realize the import of his discoveries, for
otherwise he would certainly have carried his investigations still
further. But as it was he turned his attention to other fields of
research.

ROBERT HOOKE

A slender, crooked, shrivelled-limbed, cantankerous little man, with
dishevelled hair and haggard countenance, bad-tempered and irritable,
penurious and dishonest, at least in his claims for priority in
discoveries--this is the picture usually drawn, alike by friends and
enemies, of Robert Hooke (1635-1703), a man with an almost unparalleled
genius for scientific discoveries in almost all branches of science.
History gives few examples so striking of a man whose really great
achievements in science would alone have made his name immortal, and yet
who had the pusillanimous spirit of a charlatan--an almost insane mania,
as it seems--for claiming the credit of discoveries made by others.
This attitude of mind can hardly be explained except as a mania: it is
certainly more charitable so to regard it. For his own discoveries and
inventions were so numerous that a few more or less would hardly
have added to his fame, as his reputation as a philosopher was well
established. Admiration for his ability and his philosophical knowledge
must always be marred by the recollection of his arrogant claims to the
discoveries of other philosophers.

It seems pretty definitely determined that Hooke should be credited with
the invention of the balance-spring for regulating watches; but for a
long time a heated controversy was waged between Hooke and Huygens as to
who was the real inventor. It appears that Hooke conceived the idea
of the balance-spring, while to Huygens belongs the credit of having
adapted the COILED spring in a working model. He thus made practical
Hooke's conception, which is without value except as applied by
the coiled spring; but, nevertheless, the inventor, as well as the
perfector, should receive credit. In this controversy, unlike many
others, the blame cannot be laid at Hooke's door.

Hooke was the first curator of the Royal Society, and when anything was
to be investigated, usually invented the mechanical devices for doing
so. Astronomical apparatus, instruments for measuring specific weights,
clocks and chronometers, methods of measuring the velocity of falling
bodies, freezing and boiling points, strength of gunpowder, magnetic
instruments--in short, all kinds of