BBC Radio 4 on Robert Hooke

A little over two years ago, the BBC's "In Our Time" program and podcast did an episode on Robert Hooke, a natural philosopher in England during the latter half of the 1600s. Hooke was a fascinating character: a scientific investigator of the first order, an impressive builder of scientific instruments, Surveyor to the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, yet often remembered most for disputes over intellectual achievements, often with Isaac Newton.

The episode was a marvelous discussion about his life and work, but one thing stood out: a brief mention of the "Hooke Folio". In 2006, a representative of an auction-house was looking at a house in Hampshire to estimate values of the antiques there. As he was about to leave, the owner pulled out an old box of papers. In the box, mixed up with miscellaneous papers, was a large bound volume that turned out to contain extracts that Hooke wrote out from the records of the Royal Society, annotated with his own comments about what was written, often to demonstrate that he had accomplished something first. Among other things, Hooke's records demonstrate that the his predecessor as Secretary of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, suppressed much of what had occurred during his tenure. There have long been hints about the intrigue of those early days of the Royal Society, and the rediscovered folio fills out much detail about it.

More of this story is told at The return of the Hooke folio (a PDF) by Lisa Jardine, a historian and fascinating figure in her own right.

The site Hooke Folio Online has the folio online to browse through.