Micrographia

Robert Hooke’s 1665 book of observations made with a microscope.

The Book

Micrographia was the first major scientific work to show what could be seen under magnification. Its large, detailed engravings — of fleas, lice, cork, razor edges, textile fibers — revealed a world invisible to the naked eye. The book coined the word “cell” for the tiny structures Hooke saw in cork, which reminded him of the small rooms (cellula) in a monastery.

It was a popular sensation. Samuel Pepys stayed up until 2 AM reading it and called it “the most ingenious book that ever I read in my life.” The book demonstrated the Royal Society’s program in action: look carefully at the world, record what you see, and publish it.

Micrographia also contained Hooke’s wave theory of light, his observations of fossils, and his ideas about combustion — work that would later bring him into conflict with Newton over priority.

In the novel

The book is part of the Royal Society’s early burst of experimental work that forms the backdrop to Book 1. It represents the excitement of the new science: that simply looking more carefully at ordinary things could overturn centuries of received wisdom.