Robert Hooke was born on July 18 1635 and died on March 7 1703. He was the son of the Reverend John Hooke of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, and an very gifted child, he was sent after his father's death in 1648 to apprentice with the painter Lely in London, and when the oil paints afflicted his weak constitution, moved to Westminster School, where he lived, and probably worked, in the household of the headmaster Busby. In 1653 he continued to Oxford, again paying his way as a chorist and as a servitor, and in 1662 he obtained his MA degree.
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