大象传媒

A contemporary of Newton his achievements were arguably every bit as great - he worked on gravity, microscopy and was eminent in the Royal Society.

But on his death his portraits were discarded and even his remains have been lost. Now an academic is trying to get Hooke the prestige he feels he deserves and he's even hoping to track down the scientists' skull.

Robert Hooke was born the son of a curate in the village of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. A road there now bears his name. As curator of experiments to the Royal Society, Surveyor to the City of London and Professor of Geometry at Gresham College - among other posts - he was courted by the great and good. Samuel Pepys was among many to sing his praises: 'I sat up til 2 a clock in my chamber reading of Mr Hookes Microscopicall observacions, the most ingenious book that I ever read in my life'.

Despite a long list of achievements and his pioneering work in developing experimental techniques, like those he conducted into gravity, Hooke died alone without friends or reputation. His body was buried in the church of Saint Helen in Bishopsgate and more than a century later a stained glass window was built to his memory. But the window was blown out in the IRA bomb attack in 1992 and the whereabouts of his remains are a mystery.

Providence has not been kind to Robert Hooke. So what went wrong? Professor Michael Cooper from City University is trying to revive interest in Hooke. 'He was very much in the shadow of two men,' he explained. 'In science he was in the shadow of Newton and in his work as surveyor in the city of London he was in the shadow of Wren. Those two men were giants in their field and Hooke rather got lost in the space between them'.

As curator of experiments at the newly formed scientific body The Royal Society, inevitably Hooke became embroiled in the politics of the burgeoning science establishment. Over a period of 30 years he fell out with, among others, his main rival, Isaac Newton. Hooke felt his contributions to the theories of motion were never acknowledged. Almost 300 years after his death there is not a single picture of Hooke - only descriptions from the time of a pale and crooked looking man.

His remains lie in a grave somewhere in North London. Professor Cooper hopes to track them down. 'It might be possible to reconstruct his face from his remains and those descriptions,' he says. 'I would like to think that whatever is done with his remains it's for the benefit of his reputation'. We will hear more about Hooke over the coming months, a series of events are being held to commemorate his legacy.

An increasing number of scientists and historians are coming to recognise him as England's lost genius.