Robert Hooke, an English polymath, was born in 1635 in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, inherited 40 pounds from his fathers’ death in 1648 and relocated to London with the intention of starting an apprenticeship. He briefly studied under Samuel Cowper and Peter Lely before being persuaded to enroll in Westminster School by its headmaster, Dr. Richard Busby. 

Hooke quickly studied Latin and Greek, as well as Euclid's Elements and the organ, and began his lifelong study of mechanics.

Hooke obtained a chorister's position at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1653, and was hired as a "chemical assistant" to Dr Thomas Willis. 

From 1655 to 1662, he worked as an assistant to philosopher Robert Boyle, creating, running, and displaying Boyle's "machina Boyleana," or air pump. 

Hooke discovered the law of elasticity in 1660 which describes the linear variation of tension with extension in an elastic spring.

In 1662, Hooke was appointed Curator of Experiments by the newly created Royal Society, and was in charge of the experiments carried out during the society's weekly sessions.

Hooke succeeded Arthur Dacres as Gresham Professor of Geometry and Cutlerian Lecturer in Mechanics at Gresham College in London in 1664. He was an early observer of Saturn's rings, discovering one of the first double-star systems in 1664, Gamma Arietis.

Historically there was a dispute between Hooke and Christiaan Huygens, who published his own work in the Journal de Scavans in February 1675, as to who first developed the balance spring.

Hooke discovered the nodal patterns associated with the modes of vibration of glass plates on July 8, 1680. He ran a bow along the edge of a glass plate covered with flour, and saw the nodal patterns emerge. In acoustics, in 1681 he showed the Royal Society that musical tones could be generated from spinning brass cogs cut with teeth in specific proportions.

In December 1691, Hooke was awarded the title of "Doctor of Physics."