Robert Hooke has become (in)famous for his arrogance, secrecy and bad temper. He may be one who suffers from bad press. He was a developer of the compound microscope, he helped Boyle to build a vacuum pump, he was an early member of the Royal Society and he was one scientist who early patented an application of his discovery.
Most physics students have been told about his coded message which he revealed two years later as "Ut tensio sicut uis" (the Romans did not distinguish between U and V).
Hooke patented a carriage lamp which used a spring to keep a candle flame burning opposite a small window. Carriage lamps, based on Hooke’s patent, were still on sale in the late 1800s.
