ROBERT HOOKE

wars.

During the 17th century, the political instability that dominated Europe led to many wars as well. The beginning of Robert Hooke’s life was marked with the end of the Thirty Years’ War, and even as this war came to an end, more wars erupted across Europe. England fought in war to establish Anglicanism as its main religion, and triumphed in a victorious gain of economic prosperity (“British Art in the 17th Century and Historical Background,” 43). The main war throughout the 17th century was known as the English Civil War (1642-1651), which took place during the life of Robert Hooke (“British Art in the 17th Century and Historical Background,” 43). Additionally, in 1660, the Restoration restored the Anglican Church, leading England to turn in opposition to both the Spanish and the Dutch (“British Art in the 17th Century and Historical Background,” 43). In 1675, King Philip’s War erupted between Wampanoag and British colonists in North America (Burgan, 61). Thus, because there were so many wars and so much political conflict going on during the life of Robert Hooke, this may have influenced him to seek a way to make life more efficient. Because of the damaging effects of the Civil War to the society, Hooke invented the wheel barometer and the weather clocks, instruments that allowed soldiers in war to measure and predict the forecast, pressure, humidity, and other factors throughout war, invented by Hooke in hopes of assisting the south win the Civil War (Westfall, 73). Also, as political instability broke out across the countryside, the middle class, not being a part of the well-informed upper class of high governmental officials, failed to understand exactly why so much was going on in England. Thus, as political understanding ceased, Hooke sought out a scientific understanding replace the political understanding of the 17th century. Thus, he was able to make successful discoveries of the cells through this search for a more critical understanding of the world.