Robert Hooke
Hooke, Robert (1635–1703), an English scientist. He constructed a compound microscope with which he was the first man to see the cells in plant tissues, the compound eye of a fly, and the crystal structure of snowflakes. His meticulous drawings of more than 60 previously invisible objects illustrated his Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies (1665).
A many-sided experimenter and theorist, Hooke made important contributions to chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, and physics, and devised or improved many instruments that advanced the sciences of his time. He formulated Hooke's Law, which states that the strain (distortion) of an elastic body is proportional to the stress (force) applied to the body. As a surveyor and architect, he helped in the rebuilding of London after the fire of 1666.
Hooke was born on the Isle of Wight and attended Oxford University. He did much of his work while curator of experiments (1662–1703) to the Royal Society, London.