Robert Hooke, 'Micrographia' (1665)

Commentary
Robert Hooke, 'Micrographia' (1665)
Collection: 
Fellows' Library, Winchester College

Full title: Robert Hooke, Micrographia: or some physiological depictions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon (London, 1665)

Robert Hooke was a key member of the Royal Society and was appointed its curator of experiments in 1662. Micrographia was the first book to show the new world revealed by microscopes. Hooke used his own improved version of the compound microscope to observe small objects, such as seeds and insects, in unprecedented detail.