Robert Hooke

NAME Robert Hooke

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Robert Hooke was a scientist, philosopher, architect, and one of the most versatile minds of the Scientific Revolution. Often described as “England’s Leonardo”, he made foundational contributions to physics, biology, astronomy, microscopy, geology, architecture, and urban planning. He discovered the law of elasticity (Hooke’s Law), coined the biological term “cell”, pioneered the experimental method, contributed early ideas resembling evolutionary theory, and served as leading surveyor to the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666.

BIRTH Robert Hooke was born on July 18, 1635 in the village of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, England. He was born into the household at All Saints' Church, Freshwater, where his father served as curate.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Hooke's father, John Hooke, was an Anglican clergyman who served as the curate of All Saints' Church in Freshwater and also ran a small school. His mother was Cecily Gyles (also spelled Cecelie). Robert was the youngest of four children, having two sisters (Anne and Katherine) and an older brother, John. He was seven years younger than his eldest sibling. The family had modest means, though John Hooke senior intended for Robert to enter the ministry. Robert's father held aspirations for his sons to follow ecclesiastical careers, as several of John Hooke's brothers had also entered the church.

CHILDHOOD Robert Hooke was a frail and sickly child, and his parents held little hope that he would survive his early years. He suffered from frequent and severe headaches throughout his childhood, which prevented him from attending school regularly and interrupted his intended program of study for the ministry. As a result, Hooke was largely left to educate himself at home, where he developed his own interests.

Despite his physical weakness, young Robert displayed remarkable talents. His father noticed he was "amazingly talented at intricate work". Hooke spent his time drawing detailed pictures and working on mechanical instruments. He disassembled and studied the workings of machines, using them as guides to create his own devices. Notably, he constructed wooden clocks and even built a working model of a warship complete with firing cannons. These early demonstrations of mechanical aptitude and artistic skill led his father to believe Robert would become either a clockmaker or an artist. (1)

EDUCATION When Robert's father died in 1648, the 13-year-old inherited £40 (a significant sum at the time). He initially traveled to London to become an apprentice to the celebrated portrait painter Sir Peter Lely. However, this arrangement proved short-lived; the smell of oil paints and colors disagreed with his constitution and aggravated his chronic headaches.

Hooke instead entered Westminster School under the headmaster Richard Busby. At Westminster, he excelled, demonstrating exceptional talent in classical languages (Greek and Latin), mathematics, and mechanics. Busby recognized Hooke's gifts and provided special tutelage and support.

In 1653, at age 18, Hooke secured a place at Christ Church College, Oxford University. He received free tuition and accommodation by serving as an organist and chorister, and earned a basic income as a servitor. Though he did not officially matriculate until 1658, he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1662. At Oxford, Hooke studied experimental science and became immersed in the vibrant intellectual community. He worked as a chemical assistant to the anatomist Dr. Thomas Willis and met pivotal figures including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, and other proto-scientists who would form the nucleus of the Royal Society. Hooke characterized his Oxford days as "the foundation of his lifelong passion for science", and the friendships he formed there, particularly with Wren, remained important throughout his career. (2)

CAREER RECORD Hooke's professional career was extraordinarily prolific and spanned multiple domains:

1655-1662: Assistant to Robert Boyle at Oxford

1662–1703: Curator of Experiments for the Royal Society. Hooke was required to demonstrate three or four major experiments every week.

1665-1703: Professor of Geometry at Gresham College with an annual salary of £50. 

1666-1703: After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Hooke was appointed Surveyor to the City of London alongside Christopher Wren.

APPEARANCE No authenticated portrait of Robert Hooke survives, making his physical appearance a matter of historical debate and reconstruction. However, two detailed written descriptions exist from contemporary friends, John Aubrey and Richard Waller.

Physical Build: Hooke was described as being "of midling stature" (medium height) and "something crooked". At approximately age 16, he developed a pronounced curvature of the spine, likely caused by Scheuermann's kyphosis, a condition in which the vertebrae grow unevenly. This spinal deformity caused him to become bent or "awry," restricting his mobility and causing severe, disabling pain throughout his life. He was described as "very crooked" and "despicable" in person due to this deformity. Waller noted Hooke remained "always very pale and lean". 

Facial Features: Contemporary descriptions provide specific details: Hooke had "full and popping" grey eyes that were "not quick". His forehead was described as "large". His nose was "thin, of a moderate height and length". The mouth was characterized as "meanly wide," with a "thin" upper lip. He had a "sharp" chin. 

Hair: Hooke possessed "a delicate head of hair, brown, and of an excellent moist curl". The descriptions emphasize the quality and curl of his natural brown hair. Significantly, Hooke's diary reveals that in August 1672, he purchased a wig and cut his hair short, subsequently wearing wigs regularly in the early and mid-1670s. 

A seal discovered on an Isle of Wight document from 1684/85 bears an image that matches many details from the written descriptions, including the curled hair and facial features, though its authenticity as Hooke's likeness remains debated. Newton's infamous comment that he had seen "further by standing on the shoulders of Giants" is believed by some historians to be a particularly cruel jab at Hooke's pronounced spinal curvature. (3)

Rita Greer's imagined portrait of Hooke

FASHION  Hooke dressed plainly and practically, favoring utility over elegance. He had little interest in fashion beyond comfort and function.

As previously noted, Hooke adopted the fashion of wearing wigs in the 1670s, purchasing his first wig in August 1672. This timing corresponds with when wig-wearing became fashionable among professional and middle-class men in Restoration England. The fact that Hooke could afford such accessories (wigs were expensive status symbols) reflects his improving financial circumstances through his surveying work.

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Given his position at Gresham College, where professors were required to maintain certain standards of decorum, and his interactions with Royal Society members (including aristocrats and wealthy merchants), Hooke would have needed to dress appropriately for his professional station. His increasing wealth from surveying work—earning approximately £500 annually by the 1670s—would have allowed him to maintain the appearance befitting a respected man of science and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

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CHARACTER Brilliant but combative, Hooke was intensely curious, deeply insecure, and fiercely protective of his ideas. He was prone to paranoia and resentment, especially when he felt his work was being appropriated by others.

Hooke frequently engaged in priority disputes over scientific discoveries. His conflicts with Newton over optics, gravitation, and microscope design suggest deep-seated insecurity about receiving proper credit for his work. Some historians attribute this to the precarious nature of his professional position and his need to defend his intellectual contributions.

Hooke possessed an extraordinary work ethic and was described as "always overworked". He fulfilled his demanding responsibilities at the Royal Society with "ingenuity and gusto," performing hundreds of experiments over decades and setting a high intellectual standard. His diary reveals a man engaged in "frantic circulation" through London, maintaining an "energetic rush" of professional and social activities. (4) (5)

SPEAKING VOICE Hooke regularly presented demonstrations and lectures to the Royal Society's members, delivered Cutlerian Lectures on practical sciences, and served as Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. These positions required substantial public speaking abilities. His successful book Micrographia demonstrates his capacity for clear communication and accessible prose commentary.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Limited direct evidence exists regarding Hooke's sense of humor. However, his reputation suffered from public satire. In 1676, Thomas Shadwell's successful play The Virtuoso satirized the Royal Society, and Hooke felt personally targeted by the mockery. The play's character "Sir Nicholas Gimcrack" was widely interpreted as lampooning Hooke and the Royal Society's experimental work, particularly their "weighing of air" experiments.

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RELATIONSHIPS Robert Hooke never married, as Fellows of Gresham College were required to remain celibate. His personal relationships, particularly with women, remain among the most controversial aspects of his life.

Grace Hooke (Niece): The most significant and troubling relationship in Hooke's life was with his niece, Grace Hooke, daughter of his brother John. Grace came to live with her uncle Robert in London around 1670-1672, when she was approximately 10-12 years old. Ostensibly, the arrangement was for Robert to supervise her education. However, Hooke's diary reveals that by 1675-1676, when Grace was approximately 16 years old, he began a sexual relationship with her. His diary contains numerous coded entries (using the Pisces astrological symbol) documenting their intimate encounters.

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Diary entries such as "slept with Grace" appear regularly from June 1676 onward. In December 1676, Hooke wrote "Grace out. I resolvd to rid my self of her," suggesting internal conflict about the relationship. Biographer Stephen Inwood considers Grace to have been "the love of his life," and Hooke was reportedly devastated when she died in 1687 at age 27. Her death marked a turning point; Hooke's health declined significantly thereafter. This relationship constituted incest under contemporary law and would have been considered a felony even in the 17th century. ​

Female Servants: Hooke had sexual relationships with several female servants and housekeepers, including Nell Young, Mary Robinson, and others. His diary meticulously recorded these encounters using the Pisces symbol. Nell Young was the servant with whom he maintained the longest relationship and friendship; they remained friends even after she married and left his household.

Professional Relationships: Hooke maintained important professional friendships, particularly with Christopher Wren, with whom he collaborated for decades on architectural projects. He was close to Robert Boyle and worked with him for seven years. He became friends with the traveler Robert Knox, who brought him gifts and curiosities from his voyages, including cannabis seeds.

The Newton Rivalry: Hooke's most famous relationship was his bitter rivalry with Isaac Newton. The conflict began in 1672 when Newton submitted his first paper to the Royal Society on the nature of light. Hooke's scathing criticism humiliated Newton. Tensions exploded when Newton published Principia in 1687, containing his Law of Universal Gravitation. Hooke claimed Newton had borrowed his ideas about inverse-square gravitational attraction without acknowledgment. Newton refused to give Hooke credit, and their correspondence became "increasingly acrimonious". After Hooke's death in 1703, Newton became President of the Royal Society and allegedly oversaw the destruction or disappearance of Hooke's portrait. The rivalry embodied two contrasting approaches to science: Hooke's collaborative, experimental method versus Newton's solitary, mathematical approach.

MONEY AND FAME Robert Hooke's financial situation improved dramatically over his lifetime. He began with modest means—inheriting £40 (some sources say £100) from his father in 1648. His early positions paid relatively little: the Royal Society provided an annual salary of £30 (often paid late), the Cutlerian Lectureship offered £50 annually (which he had difficulty collecting), and his Gresham College professorship paid £50.

However, Hooke's work as City Surveyor after the Great Fire of London transformed his finances. He received fees from citizens for certificates and reports, payment for rebuilding London churches, and income from privately commissioned architectural work. His annual income during peak years reached approximately £500, placing him among the wealthier middle classes.

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By his death in 1703, Hooke had accumulated remarkable wealth. An iron chest found in his room at Gresham College contained approximately £10,000 in cash (equivalent to close to £1 million in today's money). Some contemporary accounts estimated his total wealth at £12,000. This was an incredibly large sum for an employee of the Royal Society receiving infrequent and late partial payments of his annual £30 salary". Nearly all his fortune came from his surveying work rather than his scientific positions.

During his lifetime, Hooke achieved significant recognition. His 1665 book Micrographia became one of the first scientific bestsellers. Hooke was "a celebrity" in his era and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1663.

However, his reputation suffered considerably, particularly due to his conflicts with Newton and others. In later centuries, Hooke's legacy was "often vilified by writers" and he was largely forgotten, overshadowed by contemporaries like Newton and Wren. His reputation has only been restored in recent decades, with scholars now recognizing him as one of the greatest experimentalists of the 17th century and calling him "England's Leonardo [da Vinci]". (6)

FOOD AND DRINK He ate simply and sparingly, often neglecting meals when absorbed in work. This moderation was part of his overall approach to managing his chronic health problems.

Hooke frequently discussed the effects of "Dulwich water," a mineral drink from Dulwich Wells in South London, noting it "heat me much but betterd my stomack next day," "wrought well," and "mightily refresht me". He regularly consumed coffee and tea, and used the language of "refreshment" to describe their effects. He drank various alcohols, noting that "clough brandy refresht the stomack yet it stopd the natural passage but pears opened it". (5)

Hooke frequently took various medicinal compounds and proprietary concoctions. He regularly used "Andrews cordiall," which he described as causing effects like "wrought quick, went shivering and hazy like an ague to bed, burned about 2 and sweat much after" and on another occasion "brought much slime out of the gutts and made me cheerfull". He experimented with "Dr Cox's medicine," "tincture of steel," flowers of sulphur, mercury, senna, and sal ammoniac.

Perhaps most remarkably, Hooke experimented with consuming vomit—both his own and that of others—as an emetic and purgative. He recorded purchasing "Dr. Thompsons vomit" and the vomit of "Mr Hewk," documenting their various physical and psychological effects. One entry notes: "took Dr. Thompsons vomit. It vomited twice. Purged 10 or 12 times… Made me sleep ill, and made my arms paralytick with a great noyse in my head". (5)

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Hooke was a habitué of London's coffeehouses, particularly Garraway's (which he visited 1,274 times according to diary records) and Jonathan's (545 visits). Between 1672-1683, he made a total of 2,637 individual visits to coffeehouses. These establishments structured his social and professional networks, serving as places to meet scientists, craftsmen, clients, and travelers.

MUSIC AND ARTS  Robert Hooke demonstrated significant artistic ability from childhood. After his father's death in 1648, the young Hooke briefly apprenticed to the celebrated portrait painter Sir Peter Lely in London, though the arrangement ended when paint fumes aggravated his headaches.

Hooke's artistic skills proved invaluable to his scientific work. The detailed engravings in Micrographia (1665) showcase his exceptional ability to render microscopic observations visually. His illustrations of insects, plant structures, and other specimens combined scientific accuracy with artistic composition. His drawing of a flea became one of the most famous images in early microscopy.

Hooke's drawing of a flea

At Oxford, Hooke secured his place at Christ Church partly by serving as an organist and a chorister, indicating musical training and ability. This role provided him with free tuition and accommodation.

Hooke conducted extensive research in acoustics and music theory. His work on sound included experiments on how sound traveled through different media. He investigated the physics of musical instruments and vibration. His understanding of sound and music theory was sufficiently sophisticated to constitute a "larger subject than might seem the case from studies of his career so far available". (7)

Hooke designed numerous buildings after the Great Fire of London, including Bethlem Hospital, Montague House, and the Royal College of Physicians. His collaboration with Christopher Wren on London's reconstruction and church designs blended scientific principles with aesthetic considerations. Contemporary accounts suggest Hooke played a major role in designing the Monument to the Great Fire and contributed significantly to St. Paul's Cathedral's dome design.

LITERATURE Hooke was an avid reader. A picturesque account in Micrographia begins: "Reading one day in Septemb.", suggesting he regularly engaged with books during his leisure time. His diary and correspondence reveal familiarity with contemporary scientific literature and travelers' accounts.

Hooke's most significant literary achievement was Micrographia (1665), one of the first scientific bestsellers and a masterpiece of 17th-century science literature. Samuel Pepys famously called it "the most ingenious booke that I ever read in my life". The work combined detailed scientific observations with accessible prose commentary and stunning illustrations.

Other publications included:

Cometa (1666), on the nature of comets

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Description of Helioscopes (1675), including discussion of his balance-spring mechanism

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De Potentia Restitutiva or Of Spring (1678), establishing Hooke's Law

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Lectures of Spring (1678), expanding his theories on elasticity

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His Cutlerian Lectures, delivered regularly on practical sciences and trades

Hooke's writing demonstrated clarity and accessibility. His prose made complex scientific observations understandable to educated lay readers, contributing to the book's popular success.

Title page of Micrographia

NATURE Robert Hooke possessed an intense fascination with the natural world, manifested across multiple disciplines:

Hooke's observations of nature at microscopic scale revolutionized biology. Using his improved compound microscope, he examined an extraordinarily diverse range of natural specimens: cork (where he discovered "cells"), insect eyes, plant seeds, snowflakes, feathers, flies, moss, and "animalcules". His Micrographia illustrations showed silk fibers, fine lawn cloth, ants, fleas, cellar spiders, moths, nettle and wild oat, seaweed, rosemary and sage.

Hooke described these observations as revealing "the Wisdom and Providence of the All-wise Creator" in nature's smallest creatures. His work emphasized that divine design was "not less shewn in these small despicable creatures, Flies and Moths...then in those" larger animals. (8)

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Hooke made pioneering contributions to paleontology and geology. He was among the first to correctly identify fossils as "petrified remains of once living creatures" rather than mysterious mineral formations. He called fossils "medals of Nature" and part of "Nature's Grammar," suggesting they should be collected and studied like texts. (9)

Hooke's geological observations led him to three remarkable conclusions: fossils were organic remains, there had been radical changes in sea level throughout Earth's history, and hilltops in England had once formed beds of tropical oceans (evidenced by giant sea shells). He rightly inferred that fossilized fish in mountainous areas meant they had once been underwater, leading him to conclude that Earth had been inhabited by many extinct species. His work laid the foundation for modern geology, and evidence suggests James Hutton incorporated much of Hooke's theory into his own geological framework.

Hooke approached nature with the conviction that scientific instruments were "extensions of the human senses" that could reveal nature's true complexity. He believed careful observation of the natural world would restore the perfection of human senses lost since the Fall of Adam. (5)

PETS Hooke extensively used animals in his scientific experiments, with mixed results regarding his attitudes toward animal welfare.

In 1664, Hooke conducted a famous and disturbing vivisection experiment on a dog to investigate breathing mechanisms. He strapped a stray dog to his table, cut off the animal's chest to observe the thoracic cavity, and kept the terrified creature alive by pumping air into its lungs with a bellows for over an hour. In his letter to Robert Boyle describing the experiment, Hooke revealed genuine remorse: "I shall hardly be induced to make any further trials of this kind, because of the torture of this creature". This demonstrates that unlike some contemporaries who took pleasure in vivisection, Hooke was "deeply moved by the suffering he had caused". (10)

Hooke observed mice in experiments on air in 1664, marking the first recorded use of mice in scientific research. He used various animals in experiments for the Royal Society, though he did not perform further full vivisections after the traumatic dog experiment.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Hooke's primary leisure activities centered on coffeehouses, which functioned as his social and professional gathering spaces. His diary documents thousands of visits to these establishments, particularly Garraway's and Jonathan's in Exchange Alley. These were not merely places to drink coffee but served as venues for meeting friends, discussing science, conducting business, hearing gossip, and encountering travelers with news from abroad.

Hooke's diary mentions walking as a regular activity. In June 1677, he recorded: "Walkd to Islington with Grace till she was weary". He took walks in "the fields north of Murfields or along the Thames" with Grace. These walks served both as exercise and leisure time.

From childhood, Hooke delighted in working with mechanical instruments and devices. He continued this interest throughout his life, constantly inventing and improving scientific instruments. This hands-on mechanical work appears to have been both professional necessity and genuine pleasure.

There is no evidence that Hooke participated in sports or athletic activities. His chronic ill health, spinal deformity, and physical frailty likely precluded active sports participation.

SCIENCE AND MATHS Robert Hooke was the sort of person who, if left alone in a room with a spring, a bit of cork, and a vague question about the universe, would emerge a few hours later having reinvented three branches of science and built a new instrument to measure the fourth. In the unruly, competitive, and frequently bad-tempered world of 17th-century science, Hooke stands out as one of its most relentlessly inventive minds—a man who seemed constitutionally incapable of not figuring things out.

His most famous contribution, Hooke’s Law, arrived in 1678 and did something rare in science: it explained a complicated behavior in terms so simple that even the universe appeared to nod in agreement. Hooke showed that the amount a spring stretches is proportional to the force applied to it—no drama, no theatrics, just a tidy relationship between push and pull. This modest insight turned springs from temperamental curiosities into reliable components, quietly enabling everything from clocks and car suspensions to the humble click of a retractable pen. It was physics behaving itself for once.

But Hooke was never content to linger in one field. He had an irrepressible urge to peer closer, which led him to microscopy and, eventually, to immortality of a different sort. While examining cork in 1665, Hooke noticed it was riddled with tiny compartments, which reminded him of monks’ cells. He called them “cells,” and biology has been stuck with the word ever since. His book Micrographia—lavishly illustrated and astonishingly popular—revealed a hidden world of insect eyes, plant fibers, and crystalline snowflakes, convincing an astonished public that reality was far more crowded than previously suspected.

Robert Hooke's microscope

Hooke also spent a good deal of time looking up. In astronomy, he identified the rotation of Mars and Jupiter, described lunar craters in detail, and very likely glimpsed what we now call Jupiter’s Great Red Spot before anyone thought to name it. He built the first accurate astronomical clock, proposed using pendulums to measure gravity, and designed telescopes so refined they made the heavens seem newly furnished. In 1674, he even constructed a functioning Gregorian reflecting telescope—a device that sounds obscure but was, in its way, revolutionary.

Then there was gravity, the subject that would haunt Hooke’s legacy. Years before Isaac Newton did the sums, Hooke suggested that planets were attracted to the Sun and that this attraction weakened with distance—possibly according to an inverse-square law. Newton later provided the mathematics and the fame, while Hooke got a lifelong grievance and one of history’s most legendary scientific feuds. Their relationship deteriorated into a frosty silence so thorough that Hooke’s portrait may have vanished from the Royal Society out of sheer spite.

Hooke didn’t fare much better in optics, where he argued—correctly, as it turns out—that light behaved like a wave. Newton disagreed, loudly and at length. Modern physics has since resolved the matter by deciding that light is both a wave and a particle, which would have pleased neither man but vindicated both. Along the way, Hooke invented the iris diaphragm, refined telescopes and microscopes, and built a refractometer for measuring how light bends through liquids.

If an instrument could be improved, Hooke improved it. If one didn’t exist, he built it. His inventions ranged from the universal joint (still known as Hooke’s joint) to balance springs for watches, air pumps, surveying micrometers, depth-sounders, weather instruments, and machines for grinding lenses. Working with Robert Boyle, he engineered the vacuum pumps that made Boyle’s gas law possible, quietly performing the technical miracles while Boyle took the headlines.

Hooke also had ideas about heat, matter, and air that were centuries ahead of their time. He proposed that heat was a form of energy rather than a material substance and suggested that air pressure came from tiny particles in constant motion—ideas that modern physics would later adopt with enthusiasm.

Though not a pure mathematician, Hooke was mathematically formidable enough to become Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, where he lectured, experimented, and occasionally taught algebra to family members, presumably because he couldn’t help himself. More than anything, he believed in experimentation—actual, messy, hands-on testing—as the surest path to truth. This insistence helped establish experimental science as the standard rather than a novelty.

In the end, Robert Hooke’s greatest talent may have been his refusal to specialize. He ranged freely across disciplines, connecting ideas others kept neatly separated. It made him indispensable, exasperating, and often overlooked—but it also made him one of the most astonishingly productive minds of his age. If science were a city, Hooke didn’t just live there; he helped build the streets, the tools, and quite a few of the laws governing traffic.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Hooke came from a highly religious Anglican family. His father, John Hooke, was an Anglican clergyman who intended Robert for the ministry. However, when persistent headaches interrupted his theological studies, this plan was abandoned. The Anglican Church was abolished between 1643 and 1660, which coincided with Hooke's time at Westminster School and Oxford, influencing his decision to pursue science rather than the clergy.

Hooke believed that scientific instruments served to restore human senses to the perfection Adam enjoyed before the Fall. This theological framework provided both motivation for scientific inquiry and moral legitimacy for his experimental work.

While Hooke's personal religious beliefs are difficult to determine with certainty, he "valued tolerance" and "valued Liberty of conscience". He maintained close relationships with very religious people, including Robert Boyle, John Wilkins (Bishop of Chester), and John Tillotson (Archbishop of Canterbury). Hooke's mentor John Wilkins was "pretty explicit about his Christian beliefs and the way in which the natural philosophy that he's putting forward including a mechanical philosophy is totally congruent with Christian metaphysics and faith". (11)

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However, scholars note "we cannot know" the full extent of Hooke's personal faith. Some suggest we "cannot say that he was an atheist under cover or at least we cannot know it's something we just cannot know". The evidence suggests Hooke was a practicing Christian who saw no conflict between his scientific work and religious belief, though the depth of his personal piety remains uncertain. (11)

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POLITICS Robert Hooke was born during a period of intense political upheaval in 17th-century England. King Charles I was beheaded in 1649 when Hooke was 14 years old, following a civil war between royalists and radical Protestants. Oliver Cromwell established himself as "Lord Protector" (dictator) in 1653, the year Hooke entered Oxford. The Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660 coincided with Hooke's early professional career and the founding of the Royal Society.

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Hooke appears to have deliberately avoided direct political involvement. His educational path was influenced by political instability—many leading scientists switched from London to Oxford during the 1640s-50s seeking more politically stable environments, which influenced Hooke's decision to study at Oxford.

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Hooke benefited from royal and aristocratic patronage. He dedicated Micrographia to the King and had direct access to Charles II, whom he consulted about his brother's estate in 1678. He submitted a watch with balance-spring mechanism to Charles II in 1675 to establish priority over Huygens. These relationships were professional rather than overtly political.

SCANDAL Robert Hooke's life involved several scandalous elements:

The most serious scandal in Hooke's personal life was his sexual relationship with his niece Grace Hooke. Beginning around 1675-1676 when Grace was approximately 16 years old (she had been in his care since age 10-12), this relationship constituted incest under contemporary law and would have been considered a felony even in 17th-century England. The relationship was apparently kept secret, revealed only through Hooke's coded diary entries. Modern scholars recognize this as grooming behavior. This scandal remained largely hidden for centuries until researchers decoded Hooke's diary.

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Hooke engaged in numerous acrimonious disputes over credit and priority for scientific discoveries. Hooke's most famous conflict began when he harshly criticized Newton's 1672 paper on light, leading to increasingly acrimonious correspondence. The dispute exploded in 1686-1687 when Hooke accused Newton of plagiarizing his ideas about inverse-square gravitational attraction for the Principia. Newton denied Hooke's claims and removed numerous references to Hooke from his manuscript. Newton's famous quote about "standing on the shoulders of Giants" is believed to be a cruel jab at Hooke's spinal deformity.

A bitter dispute erupted between Hooke and Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens over who invented the balance-spring watch. Both presented watches with springs in 1675, though their designs differed significantly. Hooke claimed he had conceived the idea before 1660, but this was "unsupported by any evidence," and he "had a reputation for frequently attempting to claim the inventions of others". While Hooke may have invented a straight spring regulator, Huygens created the first working spiral spring watch. (12)

MILITARY RECORD Robert Hooke never served in the military in any capacity. His lifetime spanned several conflicts including the English Civil War (1642-1651), the Anglo-Dutch Wars (1652-1674), and various other military engagements, but Hooke's chronic ill health and physical frailty would have precluded military service. His spinal deformity, which developed around age 16 and caused severe pain and restricted mobility, would have disqualified him from military duty even if he had been inclined toward such service.

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HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Hooke was an extremely frail and sickly child. His parents held little hope" for his survival during his first years. He suffered from frequent and severe headaches throughout childhood, which prevented regular school attendance and interrupted his early education. His father eventually gave up plans for Robert to study for the ministry due to these persistent headaches.

At approximately age 16, Hooke "first grew awry" and developed a severe curvature of the spine. This was likely caused by Scheuermann's kyphosis, a condition in which vertebrae grow unevenly. The deformity caused him to become "very crooked", restricted his mobility, and caused "severe and disabling pain" throughout his life. His contemporaries described him as "despicable" in appearance due to this pronounced curvature.

Hooke experienced numerous ongoing health problems. His diary is filled with detailed records of his symptoms and the various remedies he tried. He suffered from frequent headaches, digestive problems, and various pains. 

In the late 1690s, Hooke's health began to deteriate. He suffered from symptoms consistent with cardiovascular disease and diabetes: swollen legs, chest pains, dizziness, and emaciation. He also suffered from scurvy. During his last year of life, "blindness and swelling of the legs rendered him helpless" and he became bedridden. The death of his niece Grace in 1687 marked a turning point after which "his health declined at a greater rate".

Hooke engaged in extensive self-medication throughout his life. His diary documents consumption of numerous remedies, purgatives, emetics, and medicinal compounds. He experimented with various substances to manage his symptoms, including proprietary medicines, mineral waters, herbal preparations, mercury, sulphur, and even cannabis. He meticulously recorded the effects of these substances on his body and mind.

Despite his limitations, he maintained an extraordinarily active intellectual and professional life, rushing between coffeehouses, laboratories, building sites, and meetings.

HOMES Freshwater, Isle of Wight (1635-1648): Robert Hooke was born and spent his first 13 years at the household connected to All Saints' Church in Freshwater, where his father served as curate. The family home was modest, befitting a clergyman's family. Young Robert was largely confined to home due to his frequent illnesses.

Oxford - Christ Church College (1653-1662): From age 18, Hooke resided at Christ Church College, Oxford. His accommodation was provided as part of his position as organist, chorister, and servitor. During this period, he also worked in Robert Boyle's laboratory.

Gresham College, London (1665-1703): In 1665, when Hooke was appointed Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, he received lodgings at the college that "remained his home from then on". Gresham College was located on Bishopsgate Street in the City of London. Hooke lived in apartments within the college for 38 years until his death.

During the Great Plague of London in 1665, Hooke left the city temporarily. He retired to Durdans, near Epsom, to continue experiments away from the plague.

Property Investments: While Hooke lived at Gresham College, he invested in property. Documents exist showing him involved in property transactions on the Isle of Wight, including a 1684/85 assignment of a mortgage between the Town of Newport and Robert Hooke. His brother John had taken out mortgages on Newport properties, which Robert eventually repaid.

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TRAVEL Unlike gentlemen of his era who typically undertook Grand Tours of Europe, Hooke seldom left London. Hooke maintained connections to his birthplace and did occasionally returneto the Isle of Wight to visit family. 

While Hooke himself rarely traveled, he maintained keen interest in travel narratives and accounts from distant lands. He published travel literature by others, including Robert Knox's An historical relation of the island Ceylon (1681). Knox, who became Hooke's close friend, presented him with "gifts and curiosities" from his voyages, including the seeds of cannabis from his travels to the East. Hooke regularly met travelers at coffeehouses, where he heard their accounts. (15)

DEATH Robert Hooke died on March 3, 1703, at his lodgings in Gresham College, London. He was 67 years old. 

In his final years, Hooke suffered from multiple conditions including symptoms consistent with cardiovascular disease and diabetes: swollen legs, chest pains, dizziness, emaciation, and blindness. He also suffered from scurvy. These conditions progressively incapacitated him until he was confined to bed for his final year.

Despite his regularly voiced intentions to leave a generous bequest to the Royal Society to provide it with permanent premises, Hooke died intestate (without a will). His money subsequently passed to his illiterate cousin Elizabeth Stephens.

Hooke was buried at St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, near Gresham College where he had lived. The burial took place shortly after his death.

Tragically, Hooke's final resting place was disturbed and his remains lost. In 1891, during restoration work on the nave floor at St. Helen's Church, workmen uncovered "a jumble of crushed coffins, corpses and old bones". As many as 1,000 bodies had lain under the nave. Only 10 were identified; Hooke was not among them. All unclaimed bones were packed into crates and reburied in a common grave at City of London Cemetery, Wanstead, approximately 10 kilometers away. Hooke's bones are somewhere in that mass grave, unidentified and unmarked. (16)

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Newton's treatment of Hooke after his death bordered on vindictive. When Newton became President of the Royal Society in 1703 (the same year Hooke died), he allegedly oversaw the destruction or disappearance of Hooke's portrait. Newton also removed references to Hooke from later editions of Principia. This posthumous erasure contributed to centuries of historical neglect. His reputation was only restored in the late 20th century, when scholars began recognizing him as one of the greatest experimental scientists of the 17th century and England's Leonardo da Vinci".

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Robert Hooke has appeared in various media productions, though far less frequently than his rival Isaac Newton:

(1) Television Documentaries:

Robert Hooke: Victim of Genius (1999): A television movie documenting "the story of how a giant of science was erased from history by the jealous rival Isaac Newton".

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BBC The Story of Science: Featured Hooke's Micrographia in a segment.

The Age of Revolution presented by David Dimbleby: This BBC program featured Micrographia and attempted demonstrations of Hooke's microscope.

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Cosmos (modern series with Neil deGrasse Tyson): Covered the Hooke-Newton rivalry and discussed the roles of both scientists along with Edmund Halley.

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​2. Literature and Fiction:

The Bloodless Boy by Robert Lloyd: A novel featuring Robert Hooke as a main character. The story has Hooke (as the Royal Society's Curator of Experiments) and his apprentice Harry Hunt investigating the death of a blood-drained boy using their knowledge of "new philosophy" (17th-century science). The novel is set during the period when Grace Hooke was living with her uncle.

Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle: Hooke appears as a character in Neal Stephenson’s series of novels.

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3. Satirical Appearances (Contemporary to Hooke):

Thomas Shadwell's 1676 play The Virtuoso featured a character, "Sir Nicholas Gimcrack," widely interpreted as satirizing Hooke and the Royal Society. 

4. Public Interest: Recent years have seen increased interest in rehabilitating Hooke's reputation. The 2003 tercentenary of his death prompted renewed scholarly and public attention. However, Hooke remains far less prominent in popular culture than contemporaries like Newton, despite his extraordinary contributions to science.

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ACHIEVEMENTS Discovered the cell.

Formulated Hooke's Law.

Invented the compound microscope and the Gregorian telescope.

Co-designed The Monument to the Great Fire of London.

Designed scientific instruments still foundational today 

Anticipated ideas in evolution, gravity, and optics 

Helped establish modern experimental science

Sources: (1) Famous Scientists (2) The curious life of Robert Hooke : the man who measured London by Lisa Jardine (3) Isle of Wight History Centre (4) Ebsco (5) Intoxicating Spaces (6) England's Leonardo: Robert Hooke and the Seventeenth-Century Scientific Revolution by Allan Chapman (7) Taylor & Francis Online (8) Microrhetorica: Ethos and Empiricism in Robert Hooke’s Micrographia by Peter Ramsay Thomas (9) Paleonerdish (10) Drlindseyfitzharris.com (11) Robert Hooke's Experimental Philosophy by Felicity Henderson (12) Monochrome (13) Roberthooke.org.uk (14) The Mineralogical Record (15) Scolar Cardiff  (16) London Remembers

Thomas Hobbes

NAME Thomas Hobbes

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Thomas Hobbes is best known as one of the founding figures of modern political philosophy, above all for his 1651 masterpiece Leviathan, a work that reshaped Western thinking about government, authority, and human nature. His bleak view of humanity and forceful defense of absolute sovereignty made him one of the most controversial thinkers of the 17th century.

BIRTH Thomas Hobbes was born prematurely on April 5, 1588, which fell on Good Friday that year, at his father's house in Westport, now part of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. The house was a stone-built, tiled structure facing the Horse-Fair, the farthest house on the left traveling toward Tetbury. His premature birth occurred when his mother went into labor upon hearing news of the approaching Spanish Armada. Hobbes later famously remarked that his mother "gave birth to twins: myself and fear," suggesting this traumatic beginning instilled in him a lifelong preoccupation with security and peace.

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FAMILY BACKGROUND Hobbes came from undistinguished, plebeian origins. His father, Thomas Hobbes Sr., was the poorly educated vicar of both Charlton and Westport parishes near Malmesbury. According to John Aubrey, Hobbes's biographer, the elder Thomas was "one of the ignorant 'Sir Johns' of Queen Elizabeth's time; could only read the prayers of the church and the homilies; and disesteemed learning". After engaging in a brawl with local clergy outside his own church door, Thomas Sr. was disgraced and fled, abandoning his wife and three children.

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Hobbes's mother came from the Middleton family of Brokenborough, described as a "yeomanly family," though her first name remains unknown. 

Thomas had an older brother, Edmund (about two years his senior), who resembled him physically but fell short intellectually, being described as "a good plain understanding countryman". Edmund had one son, Francis, who resembled his uncle Thomas "especially about the eye" but "drowned his wit in ale," and two daughters who married locally. Hobbes also had a sister, Anne. 

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The family's salvation came through Thomas Sr.'s elder brother, Francis Hobbes, a wealthy and childless glove manufacturer who had served as alderman of Malmesbury. Francis took responsibility for the abandoned children and financed Thomas's education at Oxford. When Francis died, he bequeathed Thomas a mowing ground called the Gasten ground near the horse-fair, worth £16-18 per annum, while leaving the rest of his lands to Edmund.

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CHILDHOOD Details of Hobbes's childhood are largely unknown, but contemporary accounts describe him as "playsome enough" yet possessing even then "a contemplative melancholiness"—he would retreat into corners to learn his lessons by heart immediately. This early tendency toward solitary reflection foreshadowed his later philosophical temperament. 

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EDUCATION At age four, Hobbes began attending school at Westport Church, continuing until age eight, by which time he could read well and perform calculations with four figures. He then progressed to Malmesbury school under Mr. Evans, the town minister. Subsequently, he attended a private school in Westport run by Robert Latimer, a young graduate from Oxford (aged nineteen or twenty) who was an excellent Greek scholar—the first to come to that region since the Reformation. Latimer, a bachelor who delighted in his pupils' company, instructed Hobbes and two or three other promising youths in the evenings until nine o'clock. So thoroughly did Hobbes profit from this instruction that by age fourteen he departed for Oxford as "a good school-scholar".

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Remarkably, before entering university, Hobbes translated Euripides' Medea from Greek into Latin iambic verse and presented it to his master Latimer. This early demonstration of classical learning sadly did not survive—the manuscript was later lost, reportedly "devoured" by an oven used for baking pies. 

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At Oxford, Hobbes proved an indifferent student of scholastic philosophy, which he later dismissed, preferring to follow his own curriculum. He spent summer mornings rising early to trap jackdaws with birdlime-baited lead counters, disliked formal logic (though he learned it and fancied himself a good disputant), and spent considerable time "gaping on maps" at bookbinders' shops. He later wrote that he spent much time learning Aristotelian physics and logic, which he afterward "dispensed with," preferring to "prove things after [his] own sense".

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Hobbes completed his Bachelor of Arts degree by incorporation at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1608. This educational foundation in classics, combined with his later self-directed study of geometry (which he discovered at age forty), mathematics, optics, and natural philosophy, established him as a polymath.

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CAREER RECORD 1608 Appointed tutor to William Cavendish (son of William Cavendish, Baron of Hardwick, later Earl of Devonshire)

1610 -1615 Hobbes accompanied the younger William Cavendish on a grand tour of Europe

1620s Hobbes worked occasionally for Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon, serving as amanuensis, translator, and conversation partner

1628 Hobbes published his first major work: the first English translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War 

1629-1630 Tutor to Gervase Clifton (

1630-1637 Returned to the Cavendish family as tutor to William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire.

1640 Flees to Paris

1647-52 Appointed mathematical tutor to the exiled Prince Charles in Paris. 

1660 At the Restoration, Charles II remembered his former tutor fondly, receiving Hobbes back into favor, granting him a pension of £100 per year, giving him free access to court.

APPEARANCE In his youth, Hobbes was unhealthy with an ill, yellowish complexion. He frequently caught colds from getting his feet wet (before hackney coaches were common), and walked with both shoes worn aside the same way. However, from about age forty onward, he grew healthier and developed a fresh, ruddy complexion. ​

Hobbes stood over six feet tall—considerably above the average height of his era—and carried himself erect even in old age. His face was not very large, with an ample forehead. He had yellowish-reddish whiskers that naturally turned upward ("a sign of a brisk wit"), while he kept his face clean-shaven below except for a small tip under his lip. Though nature could have provided him with a venerable beard, "being naturally of a cheerful and pleasant humour, he affected not at all austerity and gravity and to look severe". As he remarked, "Barba non facit philosophium" (a beard does not make a philosopher).

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His eyes were hazel-colored, full of life and spirit even to the last. When earnest in discourse, there shone "as it were, a bright live-coal" within them. He had two distinct looks: when laughing, witty, and merry, one could scarcely see his eyes; but when serious and contemplative, he opened them round. His skin was soft and of wide texture—what Francis Bacon called "goose-skin" in his History of Life and Death.

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In old age, Hobbes became very bald, which "claimed a veneration," though indoors he studied bareheaded, remarking that he never caught cold in his head and that "the greatest trouble was to keep off the flies from pitching on the baldness". His sight and wit remained sharp until the end; he had such keen and steady vision and intellect that he claimed never to make errors in mathematical calculations. 

Thomas Hobbes by John Michael Wright c 1669-1670

​FASHION In cold weather, Hobbes commonly wore a black velvet coat lined with fur; if not that, then some other fur-lined coat. Year-round, he wore a kind of buskin made of Spanish leather, laced or tied along the sides with black ribbons. His dress reflected the practical rather than ostentatious preferences of a scholar who valued comfort and functionality over courtly display.

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CHARACTER Hobbes was cautious, intellectually combative when pressed, and profoundly suspicious of disorder. Though posterity has often painted him as dour, in private he was sociable, witty, and fond of animated conversation. Those who knew him described a man of pleasant humour and natural cheerfulness, well loved for his “pleasant facetiousness and good nature,” and “marvellously happy and ready in his replies, and that without rancour (unless provoked).” His wit was sharp, his talk rich with memorable sayings, always delivered with clarity and dry precision. Charles II delighted in his repartees, while courtiers amused themselves by baiting “the bear” into philosophical combat.

Temperamentally, Hobbes was prudent and methodical. He resisted hasty judgments, once remarking that he would as soon be expected to give “an extemporary solution to an arithmetical problem” as an instant answer to a serious philosophical question. He turned matters over slowly, “winding and compounding” them with analytical care, thinking with what observers called excellent method and steadiness, qualities that made him seldom take a false step.

Although combative in argument, Hobbes was capable of genuine compassion. When accused by a clergyman of giving alms merely from Christian obligation, he replied that he had been distressed by “the miserable condition of the old man,” and that relieving him also relieved himself—revealing his belief that charity eased both giver and receiver. He was noted for his brotherly affection toward kin and for being generously charitable pro suo modulo to those he judged worthy. He willingly instructed anyone who modestly sought knowledge, a generosity personally attested to by John Aubrey.

Yet fear remained a constant undercurrent in his character. While he denied fearing spirits or the supernatural, he openly admitted to fearing violent death—“being knocked on the head for five or ten pounds” by desperate rogues. This ever-present anxiety about violence and sudden death was not merely personal; it lay at the very heart of his philosophy, shaping his enduring conviction that only strong authority could protect human beings from their most dangerous instincts. 

SPEAKING VOICE Though Hobbes left his native Wiltshire at fourteen and lived abroad for extended periods, "sometimes one might find a little touch of our pronunciation" in his speech. Aubrey compared this to Sir Walter Raleigh, who "spoke broad Devonshire to his dying day" despite extensive travels and learning. Hobbes's voice retained subtle traces of his West Country origins throughout his ninety-one years. 

Aubrey mentions that he was prone to "stuttering" when he became heated in an argument or passionate about a philosophical point. 

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SENSE OF HUMOUR Hobbes had a keen, often caustic wit. His philosophical writings themselves contain famous sardonic observations about human nature. In conversation, his discourse was "full of" memorable sayings that "were sharp and significant". At court, he fearlessly engaged in verbal sparring, making "his part good" against all comers. The king called him "the bear" and would say, "Here comes the bear to be baited".​ 

Hobbes formulated an influential superiority theory of humor, arguing in Human Nature (1650) and Leviathan that laughter arises from "sudden glory" at perceiving our own superiority over others' defects or our past selves. This somewhat dark view of comedy as fundamentally about triumph over others reflected his broader philosophy of human competition and self-interest. (1)

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RELATIONSHIPS Hobbes never married and no romantic relationships or children are recorded. His most significant relationships were professional and intellectual rather than familial or romantic.

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His lifelong connection with the Cavendish family provided not only employment but genuine friendship and patronage. William Cavendish, the 2nd Earl of Devonshire, whom Hobbes first tutored, became a close friend and confidant for twenty years until his death in 1628. The family's support continued through multiple generations, with Hobbes serving various Cavendishes as tutor, secretary, and adviser, finally spending his last years at their Chatsworth and Hardwick estates.

William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire

Among intellectuals, Hobbes cultivated important friendships. Francis Bacon "loved to converse with him" and valued him as a secretary and conversation partner because Hobbes "understood what he wrote". 

Hobbes "extremely venerated and magnified" Galileo Galilei, forming a friendship when visiting him in Florence in 1636; "they pretty well resembled one another, as to their countenances" and "were both cheerful and melancholic-sanguine; and had both a consimility of fate, to be hated and persecuted by the ecclesiastics". 

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In Paris, Hobbes became close friends with philosopher and astronomer Pierre Gassendi and engaged René Descartes in debates (though these "succeeded only in ending all correspondence between the two"). He participated regularly in the intellectual circle of Marin Mersenne. John Selden became a close friend after Hobbes sent him a bound copy of Leviathan; they maintained "strict friendship" until Selden's death, when Selden left Hobbes a legacy of £10.

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Other friends and admirers included poet Ben Jonson, portrait painter Samuel Cowper (who painted Hobbes's portrait "as like as art could afford"—one of Cowper's best works, which Charles II purchased), Sir William Petty (with whom Hobbes studied anatomy in Paris), scientist Sir Jonas Moore, and Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland. John Aubrey, Hobbes's first biographer, met him in 1634 and knew him longer than any other countryman—from 1634 until Hobbes's death.

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Hobbes also made formidable enemies. Bishop John Bramhall engaged him in bitter disputes over free will and determinism, accusing his teachings of leading to atheism and publishing The Catching of Leviathan the Great Whale (1658). Mathematician John Wallis became one of his most persistent opponents, attacking Hobbes's mathematical work for nearly a quarter-century after the publication of De Corpore (1655). Oxford Professor Seth Ward also criticized his work. In 1666, Anglican bishops proposed trying Hobbes for heresy, and "'Hobbism' became a byword for all that respectable society ought to denounce".

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MONEY AND FAME Though of plebeian origins, Hobbes achieved considerable financial security through his Cavendish patronage. His uncle Francis left him the Gasten ground, worth £16-18 per annum. The Cavendish family provided him with "leisure and a library" plus compensation for his various services. When briefly dismissed after the death of the 2nd Earl in 1628, he received a pension.

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According to his autobiography (Vita), Hobbes took 500 pounds in coin to Paris during his exile, and later received "twice forty pounds Pension" with an additional 100 pounds from Charles II's private purse. At the Restoration in 1660, Charles II granted him a pension of £100 per year, though like most of the Royal benefactions of the day, it was but irregularly paid. There are letters at Chatsworth complaining that Hobbes had not received his pension from Charles II, and he was sometimes not paid promptly by the Cavendishes either. Nevertheless, Hobbes "must have been a reasonably wealthy man" by contemporary standards. (2)

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As for fame, Hobbes achieved international renown as a philosopher. Leviathan had "immediate impact"—soon "Hobbes was more lauded and decried than any other thinker of his time". His reputation abroad was "formidable", and he was "more esteemed by foreigners than by his countrymen," as "a prophet is not esteemed in his own country". He enjoyed "a new prominence" after the Restoration, with Charles II receiving him into favor and hanging his portrait in the royal closet. The Royal Society held him in high esteem, displaying his portrait drawn from life in 1663 at Gresham College (though he was never elected Fellow, likely due to one or two enemies). 

FOOD AND DRINK In youth, Hobbes was "generally temperate, both as to wine and women," believing he had been "in excess in his life, a hundred times; which, considering his great age, did not amount to above once a year". When he did drink, "he would drink to excess to have the benefit of vomiting, which he did easily; by which benefit neither his wit was disturbed (longer than he was spewing) nor his stomach oppressed". However, he "never was, nor could not endure to be, habitually a good fellow, i.e. to drink every day wine with company, which, though not to drunkenness, spoils the brain".

For his last thirty years or more, his diet was "very moderate and regular". After age sixty, he drank no wine because his stomach grew weak. He ate mostly fish rather than flesh, especially whitings, saying "he digested fish better than flesh". His daily routine was precise: he rose about seven, had breakfast of bread and butter, walked meditating until ten, then took dinner at exactly eleven o'clock because "he could not now stay till his lord's hour—that is, about two: that his stomach could not bear". After dinner, he took a pipe of tobacco, then immediately threw himself on his bed with his collar off and slept for about half an hour. 

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MUSIC AND ARTS Hobbes had considerable interest in and engagement with music. Around the time he worked with Francis Bacon, "Mr T.H. was much addicted to music, and practised on the bass viol". Throughout his life, he kept books of "prick-song" (written music) lying on his table—including songs by Henry Lawes and others. At night, when in bed "and the doors made fast, and was sure nobody heard him, he sang aloud (not that he had a very good voice, but for his health's sake); he did believe it did his lungs good and conduced much to prolong his life". He advocated that "the worship of God performed with music", reflecting his view that music served both devotional and health-promoting purposes.

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Regarding visual arts, Hobbes had his portrait painted by Samuel Cowper, "the prince of limners of this last age," who "drew his picture as like as art could afford, and one of the best pieces that ever he did". Charles II purchased this portrait upon his return and kept it as "one of his great rarities in his closet at Whitehall". The Royal Society also commissioned a portrait drawn from life in 1663, which they esteemed highly and from which several copies were made. 

In his writings, Hobbes engaged with aesthetics and the relationship between art and philosophy, though primarily from a mechanistic perspective. His essay "Answer to Sir William Davenant's Preface before Gondibert" (1650) represents one of his few direct literary-critical works.

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LEVIATHAN Leviathan was Hobbes’s greatest hit, though “hit” may be stretching the term for a book that managed to alarm clergymen, horrify politicians, and unsettle just about everyone else with a stake in human decency. He wrote it while in exile in Paris and published it in April 1651, at a time when England was demonstrating—enthusiastically and in public—what happens when nobody agrees who’s in charge. Civil war, regicide, and general mayhem tend to focus the philosophical mind.

Hobbes looked at this anarchic spectacle and reached a conclusion that was bracingly unromantic: people, left to their own devices, are not noble savages or misunderstood angels but self-interested creatures who will cheerfully make life unbearable for one another. Without a strong state, he declared, human existence would be “nasty, brutish and short”—a phrase that has enjoyed far greater longevity than most governments.

The solution, Hobbes argued, was absolute authority. Everyone gives 100 per cent obedience, no quibbling, no exceptions, because any gap in power is an engraved invitation to chaos. This was pessimism raised to the level of system, and it shocked many readers by openly accusing mankind of being motivated primarily by self-interest—a view that, while now widely accepted, was considered deeply rude in the 17th century.

The title didn’t help. Hobbes borrowed Leviathan from the Bible, specifically Psalm 74:14, where it refers to a terrifying sea monster. Naming your book after a biblical beast of the deep is not a subtle way to reassure readers, and Parliament eventually confirmed this by censoring the work in 1666.

Hobbes later returned to aquatic symbolism with Behemoth, another philosophical treatise, this time named after a monster from Job 40:15. By then, sea creatures had become something of a theme—useful, really, when your philosophy insists that order is all that stands between civilisation and something with teeth.

Frontispiece of Leviathan by Abraham Bosse, with input from Hobbes

LITERATURE Hobbes's relationship with literature was extensive and evolved significantly throughout his life. In his role as tutor to William Cavendish, he read widely in romances and plays before encountering Thucydides—"he spent two years in reading romances and plays, which he has often repented and said that these two years were lost of him". However, Aubrey suggests Hobbes may have been mistaken in this regret, "for it might furnish him with copy of words".

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Hobbes's first major literary achievement was his 1628/29 translation of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War from Greek into English, which has long been considered a masterful rendering and "a work of art in its own right". This translation reflected Hobbes's conviction that Thucydides offered crucial lessons about the dangers of democracy and civil conflict relevant to contemporary England.  Hobbes professed "deep admiration for Thucydides, praising him as 'the most politic historiographer that ever writ'". (3)​

In addition to Leviathan, his major works include De Cive, The Elements of Law, and historical writings such as Behemoth, a study of the English Civil War.

Classical literature remained central to Hobbes's reading throughout his life. Aubrey reports that "Homer and Virgil were commonly on his table; sometimes Xenophon, or some probable history, and Greek Testament, or so". His library was surprisingly sparse.—"I never saw (nor Sir William Petty) above half a dozen about him in his chamber". This minimalism reflected his philosophical conviction: "He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men, he should have known no more than other men".

In his final years, at ages 85-87, Hobbes produced English verse translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (1673-1675). These translations, while displaying competence, have been judged less successful than his Thucydides. Critics note that Hobbes's poetic choices—such as rendering the Greek "mēnis" (wrath, rage) as "discontent" in the opening of the Iliad—often lack the power and accuracy of other translators. Nevertheless, the sheer ambition of undertaking such massive translation projects in extreme old age testifies to Hobbes's undiminished intellectual energy.

Hobbes also engaged deeply with contemporary English literature through his friendship with Ben Jonson, the poet laureate, suggesting he remained connected to living literary culture.

NATURE His natural philosophy treated nature mechanistically, as matter in motion governed by physical laws rather than as an organic or spiritual entity. Hobbes opposed the experimental natural philosophy practiced by the Royal Society, preferring deductive reasoning from first principles. This methodological stance meant he engaged with nature primarily through reason rather than empirical observation

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PETS While he wrote about animals in philosophical contexts—particularly discussing animal cognition and whether animals could be considered to have rights or reason—no biographical sources mention him owning or keeping companion animals.

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HOBBIES AND SPORTS Hobbes maintained several recreational pursuits, most notably tennis, which he played regularly until the remarkable age of seventy-five. His tennis playing was not merely casual: "he did twice or thrice a year play at tennis (at about 75 he did it); then went to bed there and was well rubbed". The post-game rubdown was characteristic of Hobbes's attention to health maintenance through physical exertion followed by recovery measures. 

Hobbes playing tennis (Image by Perplexity)

​When tennis facilities were unavailable, particularly in the country, Hobbes devised alternatives: "for want of a tennis court, he would walk up hill and down hill in the park, till he was in a great sweat, and then give the servant some money to rub him". He believed such vigorous exercise followed by massage "would make him live two or three years the longer".

Hobbes' extensive walking served as his primary method of philosophical meditation. He would "rise very early in the morning" and walk while thinking, carrying "a note-book in his pocket, and as soon as a thought darted, he presently entered it into his book, or otherwise he might perhaps have lost it". For Leviathan specifically, "he walked much and contemplated, and he had in the head of his cane a pen and ink-horn" so he could record ideas immediately. 

His walks often took place in gardens or parks connected with the great houses where he resided. Aubrey describes his "place of meditation" at one residence as "in the portico in the garden". At Chatsworth and Hardwick, the Cavendish estates where he spent his final years, Hobbes would have had access to extensive grounds.

Intellectual hobbies dominated Hobbes's leisure. Beyond his philosophical work, he engaged extensively with geometry, which he discovered relatively late but pursued with passion. He would "draw lines on his thigh and on the sheets, abed, and also multiply and divide," demonstrating that mathematical contemplation occupied his mind even during rest.

Music constituted another recreational pursuit. He practiced the bass viol in his younger years and maintained a lifelong habit of singing alone at night for health reasons, believing "it did his Lunges good". He kept songbooks by Henry Lawes and others on his table throughout his life.

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In his youth at Oxford, Hobbes engaged in the curious hobby of catching jackdaws. He would rise very early in summer mornings and tie lead counters (used in Christmas games) with packthread besmeared with birdlime and baited with cheese parings. Jackdaws would spy these "a vast distance up in the air, and as far off as Osney Abbey, and strike at the bait, and so be harled in the string, which the weight of the counter would make cling about their wings".

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Hobbes also enjoyed going "to the bookbinders' shops and lie gaping on maps" during his time at Oxford—an early indication of his interest in geography and visual representation of space.

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SCIENCE AND MATHS Hobbes is considered "not only a scientist in his own right but a great systematizer of the scientific findings of his contemporaries, including Galileo and Johannes Kepler". (4)

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Hobbes's major scientific works included Tractatus Opticus (1640s) on optics, De Corpore (1655) on physics and natural philosophy, and various treatises on motion, time, and space. In Paris, he "went through a course of chemistry with Dr Davison" and "studied Vesalius' Anatomy," dissecting with Sir William Petty before 1648. He contributed to debates at the Royal Society and had opinions on experimental methodology, though he "disdained experimental work as in physics," preferring theoretical reasoning.

His discovery of Euclidean geometry at age forty proved transformative. Encountering Euclid's 47th proposition in a gentleman's library, Hobbes exclaimed "By G—, this is impossible!" before working backward through the demonstrations until convinced. This "made him in love with geometry", which became the model for his philosophical method. However, friends including Sir Jonas Moore lamented "that it was a great pity he had not begun the study of the mathematics sooner, for such a working head would have made great advancement in it". Indeed, his late start left him vulnerable to mathematical opponents.

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Hobbes's mathematical work proved highly problematic. In De Corpore, he claimed to provide proof for "squaring the circle"—a mathematical impossibility. Oxford mathematician John Wallis published devastating critiques, sparking a feud lasting "nearly a quarter of a century" that became "one of the most infamous feuds in mathematical history". Hobbes never admitted his error. He also "opposed the existing academic arrangements, and assailed the system of the original universities in Leviathan", making him unpopular with academic mathematicians. (5)

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Hobbes complained that "algebra (though of great use) was too much admired, and so followed after, that it made men not contemplate and consider so much the nature and power of lines, which was a great hindrance to the growth of geometry". He maintained a geometric approach, reportedly drawing "lines on his thigh and on the sheets, abed, and also multiply and divide". Even late in life, he wrote dialogues on geometry and continued publishing mathematical works, though these were largely rejected by professional mathematicians. (2)

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Thomas Hobbes stands before us like a man who has read the instruction manual for humanity and decided it was badly written, overly optimistic, and in need of firm editorial control. He is one of the great figures of Western political philosophy, largely because he looked at human nature, sighed heavily, and concluded that without strong authority we would all be fighting over the last biscuit within minutes.

Hobbes believed that people are not, at heart, fluffy-minded seekers of the common good, but anxious, self-interested creatures motivated by fear—particularly the fear that someone else is about to hit them with a stick. This did not make him popular. He was accused of atheism, which in the seventeenth century was rather like being accused of eating babies. Hobbes, for his part, protested that he was religious, thank you very much—just deeply suspicious of what happens when people start interpreting God without adult supervision.

At the core of Hobbes’s thinking was a severe, no-nonsense materialism. According to him, everything that exists is made of matter in motion. There are no floating spiritual add-ons, no ghostly extras hovering about for atmosphere. Thoughts, emotions, and even God Himself were, in Hobbes’s scheme, to be understood in physical terms. It was a worldview that left very little room for mystery and even less for comfort, but it had the advantage of being tidy. If the universe was a machine, then human beings were complicated cogs who squeaked a lot and needed regulation.

This mechanical view of humanity fed directly into Hobbes’s political thinking, most famously laid out in Leviathan (1651), written while he was in exile and presumably had plenty of time to brood. He imagined a “state of nature,” which is what life would be like without government. In this scenario, everyone has a right to everything, including each other’s possessions, limbs, and lives. The result, unsurprisingly, is a permanent state of war, accompanied by “continual fear” and a life that is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”—rather like a particularly unsuccessful church coffee morning.

To escape this nightmare, Hobbes argued, people would sensibly agree to hand over their freedoms to a sovereign authority in exchange for protection. This social contract meant that the ruler’s power could not be resisted, because it came directly from the people themselves. You gave up your right to punch your neighbour so that the sovereign could stop your neighbour punching you, which Hobbes thought a very reasonable trade. Government, in his view, existed not to make people virtuous, but to stop them killing each other.

What made Hobbes especially radical was that he did not ground political authority in divine right. Kings ruled, he said, not because God had given them a crown, but because people had decided that obedience was less unpleasant than chaos. As one later historian neatly put it, Hobbes believed we obey the state not because it is morally inspiring, but because disobedience is usually worse.

Hobbes intended his ideas to form part of a grand philosophical system, laid out with geometric precision. He planned three major works: De Corpore on physics, De Homine on human nature, and De Cive on political life. Events forced him to publish them out of order, but the ambition was clear: explain everything, from moving objects to moving crowds, using reason alone. It was philosophy as flat-pack furniture—complex, systematic, and requiring absolute concentration to avoid collapse.

His religious views were, predictably, controversial. Hobbes denied that spirits were incorporeal, insisted that revelation must agree with reason, and suggested that religion’s primary social function was to prevent war. This did not endear him to church authorities. Still, he maintained he was a Christian, accepted the sacraments, and reportedly said near the end of his life that he preferred the Church of England, which suggests that even Hobbes liked something familiar and moderately orderly.

Hobbes’s influence has been enormous. Later thinkers such as Locke, Rousseau, and Kant borrowed the social contract idea, even when they softened its more intimidating edges. His insistence that politics is rooted in human psychology and self-interest helped shape modern political science. In short, Hobbes gave us a bleak but bracing vision of society: a reminder that civilisation is not a natural state, but a carefully negotiated ceasefire—and one that, without authority, could unravel before you’ve finished your tea.

POLITICS Thomas Hobbes had the misfortune—or perhaps the philosophical good luck—to live through one of England’s loudest, bloodiest, and most confusing arguments: the Civil Wars of the 1640s. It was the sort of period when kings lost their heads, Parliament found its voice, and everyone else discovered that taking sides was much easier than staying alive. Hobbes watched all this with mounting alarm and drew the reasonable conclusion that human beings, left to their own devices, were not coping terribly well.

Politically, Hobbes occupied a position best described as awkwardly parked. He was connected to the Royalists through his long association with the Cavendish family, most notably William Cavendish, who enthusiastically backed the king and even financed an army—an expensive way of demonstrating loyalty. Hobbes himself tutored the future Charles II in mathematics while the young prince was in exile in Paris, which sounds grand until you remember that exile is essentially being royal without the perks.

Yet Hobbes had a knack for irritating the very people he seemed closest to. When Leviathan appeared in 1651, Royalists were less than delighted to discover that Hobbes believed kings ruled not by divine right but by human agreement. Sovereignty, in his view, was a practical arrangement, not a heavenly appointment. This was rather like telling a divinely anointed monarch that he was essentially a very powerful committee chairman.

Parliament, meanwhile, wasn’t exactly queuing up to embrace Hobbes either. Earlier, in 1640, he had circulated The Elements of Law, which argued that Parliament was wrong to refuse King Charles I money, since subjects were obliged to obey the sovereign’s decisions. Parliament did not take this as a friendly suggestion. Sensing that his philosophical career might be cut unpleasantly short, Hobbes fled to Paris, becoming what might be called a refugee from bad political timing.

By 1651, however, England had changed governments again—this time quite decisively—and Hobbes returned home. He presented himself to the Council of State overseeing Cromwell’s Commonwealth and, in a neat piece of intellectual flexibility, explained in the concluding section of Leviathan that when a sovereign can no longer protect you, you are perfectly entitled to switch allegiance. This was political theory doing the splits, but Hobbes insisted it was simply logic.

The truth is that Hobbes was less interested in who ruled than in the fact that someone did. Monarchy, aristocracy, democracy—it hardly mattered, so long as there was a single, unquestioned authority capable of preventing society from collapsing into a free-for-all involving knives. As he admitted, he found himself stuck between people demanding too much liberty and people demanding too much authority, and discovered that trying to pass between them without injury was nearly impossible.

When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Hobbes once again managed to land on his feet. Charles II, who remembered him fondly from Paris and apparently enjoyed his conversation, granted him a pension and welcomed him at court. This goodwill had limits. The king forbade the republication of Leviathan and blocked the publication of Behemoth, Hobbes’s history of the Civil Wars—perhaps sensing that reopening old arguments was not a relaxing way to run a restored kingdom.

After 1666, when Parliament briefly threatened to investigate Leviathan for atheism, Hobbes became notably cautious, which at his age was probably sensible. He had seen enough of what happens when authority breaks down. The Civil Wars convinced him that the greatest political disaster was not tyranny but chaos. Without strong government, he believed, life would quickly revert to its natural setting: fearful, violent, and uncomfortably short. Leviathan, in the end, was less a manifesto for kings than a survival guide for a species Hobbes clearly thought needed one.

SCANDAL Hobbes's life and work generated repeated scandals,​

Atheism Accusations: The most persistent and dangerous scandal involved accusations of atheism—"an important accusation" in seventeenth-century England where atheism could mean death. Bishop John Bramhall accused Hobbes of teachings leading to atheism and wrote The Catching of Leviathan the Great Whale (1658) denouncing him. Hobbes himself wrote that "atheism, impiety, and the like are words of the greatest defamation possible". After the Restoration, "'Hobbism' became, in the popular lexicon, synonymous with" atheism, denying objective moral values, and promoting debauchery. "Throughout the 1660s and 1670s, Hobbes continually fended off attacks by those who accused him of atheism". (3)​

Heresy Charges: In the early 1660s, Anglican bishops rumored plans to try Hobbes for heresy. In 1666, "the House of Commons introduced a bill against atheism and profaneness," and "it was ordered that the committee to which the bill was referred 'should be empowered to receive information touching such books as tend to atheism, blasphemy and profaneness... in particular... the book of Mr. Hobbes called the Leviathan'". "Hobbes was terrified at the prospect of being labelled a heretic, and proceeded to burn some of his compromising papers". He examined the actual state of heresy law, publishing his findings in appendices to the 1668 Latin translation of Leviathan, arguing no court of heresy remained with jurisdiction over him and that nothing could be heresy except opposing the Nicene Creed, "which, he maintained, Leviathan did not do". (3)

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Mathematical Controversy: Hobbes's claim to have squared the circle in De Corpore (1655) sparked one of mathematics' most infamous feuds. John Wallis demolished his proofs, sparking "name-calling and bickering for nearly a quarter of a century, with Hobbes failing to admit his error to the end of his life". This controversy damaged his reputation among scientists and mathematicians. (5)

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Exile and Royal Disfavor: Leviathan "angered many of the courtiers who had gone into exile with Charles," especially Anglican bishops, and "Hobbes was quickly barred from the court-in-exile" in Paris. The book also "angered French Catholics, who attempted to arrest him in 1651," forcing his return to England. Though Charles II later granted him favor and pension, the king prohibited republication of Leviathan and publication of Behemoth. (3)

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False Rumors: Hobbes faced various unfounded accusations. "His work was attended with envy, which threw several aspersions and false reports on him. For instance, one (common) was that he was afraid to lie alone at night in his chamber". (Hobbes clarified he feared robbers, not spirits.) Some claimed he received a pension from the King of France "for having asserted such a monarchy as the King of France exercises," though Hobbes never mentioned this and his friends denied it.

Despite these scandals, Hobbes reached the exceptional age of 91", navigating treacherous political and religious terrain with a combination of caution, royal protection, and intellectual force.

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MILITARY RECORD Thomas Hobbes' adult life spanned one of England's most tumultuous military conflicts—the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). Rather than fighting, Hobbes fled England in 1640 as conflict loomed, spending eleven years in self-imposed exile in France to avoid the dangers of civil war.

Hobbes's response to the Civil War was intellectual rather than martial—he wrote De Cive and Leviathan analyzing the causes and solutions to civil conflict, and later composed Behemoth (published posthumously in 1681) as "A Dialogue of the Civil Wars of England".

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His aversion to military service and violence was entirely consistent with his personality and philosophy. From childhood, Hobbes exhibited a "contemplative" rather than martial temperament. The trauma of witnessing his father's violent brawl and subsequent disgrace likely reinforced his hatred of physical conflict. As a philosopher, he was "by nature a deeply peaceful and cautious man" who "hated violence of all kinds".

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This personal aversion to violence animated his entire political philosophy. The central problem Leviathan addresses—how to prevent the horror of civil war—arose directly from Hobbes's own experience of fleeing England and watching from Paris as his homeland tore itself apart. His famous description of the state of nature as a condition where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" reflected his understanding of what happens when civil order collapses into armed conflict

Hobbes's response to the Civil War was intellectual rather than martial—he wrote De Cive and Leviathan analyzing the causes and solutions to civil conflict, and later composed Behemoth (published posthumously in 1681) as "A Dialogue of the Civil Wars of England".

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HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Hobbes enjoyed remarkably robust health in his later life, despite a sickly youth, living to the exceptional age of ninety-one—more than double the contemporary life expectancy of forty-three years. He attributed his longevity to careful attention to diet, exercise, and lifestyle.

Thomas Hobbes. Line engraving by William Faithorne, 1668  https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images

Hobbes "seldom used any physic". "He was wont to say that he had rather have the advice or take physic from an experienced old woman, that had been at many sick people's bedsides, than from the learned but unexperienced physician". This pragmatic approach reflected his general preference for practical experience over abstract authority.

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Hobbes developed what was likely Parkinson's disease. "He had the shaking palsy in his hands; which began in France before the year 1650, and has grown upon him by degrees, ever since, so that he has not been able to write very legibly since 1665 or 1666". Despite this progressive condition, he continued intellectual work by dictating to his amanuensis, James Wheldon.

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In October 1679 Hobbes suffered a paralytic stroke About seven or eight days after traveling from Chatsworth to Hardwick Hall, "his whole right side was taken with the dead palsy, and at the same time he was made speechless". "He lived after this seven days, taking very little nourishment, slept well, and by intervals endeavoured to speak, but could not. In the whole time of his sickness he was free from fever". He "seemed therefore to die rather for want of the fuel of life (which was spent in him) and mere weakness and decay, than by power of his disease, which was thought to be only an effect of his age and weakness".

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HOMES Hobbes was born in his father's house in Westport (part of Malmesbury, Wiltshire)—"that extreme house that points into, or faces, the Horse-Fair; the farthest house on the left hand as you go to Tedbury, leaving the church on your right". This was "a firm house, stone-built, and tiled, of one room (besides a buttery, or the like, within) below, and two chambers above. It was in the innermost where he first drew breath". In April 1639, his brother Edmund showed John Aubrey the specific chamber of his birth.

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Upon entering Cavendish service in 1608, Hobbes gained access to various family properties. He spent significant time at the Cavendish country estates, which had "a good library" but lacked "learned conversation"—"a very great inconvenience" he noted. The family owned Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

Hobbes lived in various London locations throughout his career. After returning from France in 1651, he resided in Fetter Lane until the Restoration. From 1660 until his final departure for Derbyshire in 1675, he lived at successive Cavendish London properties: Little Salisbury House (later converted to the Middle Exchange), then Queen Street, finally Newport House.

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In 1675, Hobbes "left London cum animo nunquam revertendi [with the intention of never returning] and spent the remainder of his days in Derbyshire, with the Earl of Devonshire at Chatsworth and Hardwick in contemplation and study". 

Chatsworth house fountain frontage by Paul Johnson - https://www.flickr.com

TRAVEL Travel played a crucial role in Hobbes's intellectual development, exposing him to Continental learning and enabling relationships with Europe's leading thinkers. His position as tutor to the Cavendish family provided opportunities for extended European travel that would have been impossible for someone of his social origins otherwise.

His first major journey abroad occurred in 1610, when he accompanied William Cavendish on a Grand Tour through France, Germany, and Italy. This inaugural Continental experience, typical for aristocratic education, allowed the twenty-two-year-old Hobbes to develop his knowledge of languages, classical sites, and European culture.

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A second significant tour took place around 1631, when Hobbes again traveled to the Continent with another Cavendish pupil. This journey proved particularly important: in 1634 or 1636, Hobbes met Galileo Galilei in Florence, an encounter he would remember for the rest of his life. He "contracted a friendship with the famous Galileo Galileo, whom he extremely venerated and magnified; and not only as he was a prodigious wit, but for his sweetness of nature and manners". Aubrey notes that "they pretty well resembled one another, as to their countenances" and "had both a consimility of fate, to be hated and persecuted by the ecclesiastics".

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His third Continental tour, around 1636-1637, deepened his engagement with the new science and mathematics. During this period, he traveled extensively through France (Paris, Orléans, Lyons), Geneva, and Milan, though wars prevented him from reaching Venice. In Paris, he became part of the intellectual circle surrounding Marin Mersenne, which included leading mathematicians, natural philosophers, and theologians. This network would prove invaluable during his later exile.

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When political crisis loomed in 1640, travel became a matter of survival. Hobbes fled to Paris, where he would remain for eleven years (1640-1651). This extended exile, while politically motivated, proved intellectually productive. He had access to Mersenne's circle, opportunities for discussion and debate, and the physical safety needed to complete his major philosophical works.

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Hobbes returned to England around 1651-52, making the reverse Channel crossing after more than a decade abroad. The exact date and circumstances remain somewhat unclear, but he appears to have judged England sufficiently "pacified" to risk return.

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After 1652, Hobbes's traveling days effectively ended. He spent the remaining twenty-seven years of his life in England, primarily in London with occasional visits to the Cavendish estates in Derbyshire. In 1675, at age eighty-seven, he made his final journey from London to Derbyshire, "with the intention of never returning," to spend his last years at Chatsworth and Hardwick.

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Travel thus bookended Hobbes's intellectual career: youthful Continental tours exposed him to new ideas and methods, mature exile in France enabled his most important work, and final withdrawal to the Derbyshire countryside provided peaceful contemplation in old age.

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DEATH Thomas Hobbes died on December 4, 1679 at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, aged ninety-one.

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In October 1679, Hobbes suffered a bladder disorder, which was followed by a paralytic stroke. The physicians "judged it incurable by reason of his great age and natural decay". About November 20, when the Earl of Devonshire planned to move from Chatsworth to Hardwick, "Mr Hobbes would not be left behind; and therefore with a feather bed laid into the coach; upon which he lay warm clad, he was conveyed safely, and was in appearance as well after that little journey as before it".

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However, seven or eight days after arriving at Hardwick, "his whole right side was taken with the dead palsy, and at the same time he was made speechless". He lived another seven days, "taking very little nourishment, slept well, and by intervals endeavoured to speak, but could not. In the whole time of his sickness he was free from fever". He appeared "to die rather for want of the fuel of life (which was spent in him) and mere weakness and decay, than by power of his disease".

Hobbes's final words, "uttered in his final conscious moments," were reportedly "A great leap in the dark"—a phrase befitting a philosopher who spent his life contemplating mortality and the limits of human knowledge. (6)

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Aubrey writes: "He was put into a woollen shroud and coffin, which was covered with a white sheet, and upon that a black hearse cloth, and so carried upon men's shoulders, a little mile to church". His body was interred at St. John the Baptist's Church in Ault Hucknall, Derbyshire. "The company, consisting of the family and neighbours that came to his funeral, and attended him to his grave, were very handsomely entertained with wine, burned and raw, cake, biscuit, etc".

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His tombstone bore an inscription "purportedly written by himself": "He was a virtuous man, and for his reputation for learning, he was well known at home and abroad". The full Latin inscription read: "Who for many years served Two Devonshires, companion to Father and Son. His honourable conduct and reputation for erudition Were well-known at home and abroad. He died in the year of our Lord 1679 Month of December the 4th day His age 91".​

Aubrey recorded that "It is rumored that Hobbes had formerly proposed: 'This is the true philosopher's stone'" as an epitaph, though this was not ultimately used.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA While Thomas Hobbes himself rarely appears as a character in modern media, his ideas and name have permeated contemporary culture in various ways:

1. Indirect Cultural Influence: The most famous "Hobbes" in popular culture is the stuffed tiger in Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes (1985-1995), named after the philosopher. This pairing of the philosopher Hobbes with the theologian John Calvin cleverly references both figures' views on human nature.

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2. Film and Television: Hobbesian political philosophy has significantly influenced film and television narratives. A genre of "Hobbesian films" emerged between 1979-1996, paralleling the rise of conservatism in the United States, depicting crime, chaos, and the need for strong authority. Films like Death Wish (1974) and Dirty Harry (1971) reflected Hobbesian themes of security versus liberty. 

One scholar argues that Hobbes functions as "a science fiction writer" whose myth of the state of nature continues to appear in productions including Star Trek: Discovery and Black Panther, despite these shows' otherwise progressive stances. Game of Thrones has been analyzed as accurately representing Hobbesian symbolism regarding power and sovereignty. (7)

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3. Academic and Documentary Media: Numerous educational videos, lectures, and podcasts discuss Hobbes's philosophy, including episodes of Philosophize This! and academic YouTube channels analyzing Leviathan. His ideas appear regularly in political theory courses and documentaries about the history of political thought.

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4. Literary References: Shakespeare references often intersect with Hobbesian themes, as Hamlet's "What a piece of work is man" soliloquy appears in films like Blade Runner, Grosse Pointe Blank, and others—connecting Renaissance humanism with Hobbes's later pessimistic anthropology.

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5. Physical Representations: Contemporary interest in Hobbes includes his birthplace site marked in Malmesbury, exhibits at Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House where he lived and died, and historical reenactments and tours. His portrait from Life (1663) remains in the Royal Society's collection.

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6. Digital Presence: Hobbes's works, especially Leviathan, are widely available as free e-books through Project Gutenberg and other digital libraries. Audiobook recordings, including full unabridged readings, exist on platforms like YouTube. Philosophical databases and online encyclopedias feature extensive entries on his thought.

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ACHIEVEMENTS Author of Leviathan, the foundation of Western political philosophy.

Developed the first comprehensive theory of the social contract.

A pioneer of philosophical materialism.

Translated the foundational texts of Greek history and epic poetry into English. 

Main sources MacTutor Other Sources: (1) IEP (2) In Search of Thomas Hobbes, The Man by Pamela Barlow (3) Great Thinkers (4) Britannica (5) Hobbes and Wallis by Andrew Boyd (6) Philosophy Now (7) Anthrodendum