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Hooke, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Hooke, Robert ho͝ok [key], 1635–1703, English physicist, mathematician, and inventor. He became curator of experiments for the Royal Society (1662), professor of geometry at Gresham College (1665),...

Hooke's law

(Encyclopedia)Hooke's law: see elasticity.

elasticity

(Encyclopedia)elasticity, the ability of a body to resist a distorting influence or stress and to return to its original size and shape when the stress is removed. All solids are elastic for small enough deformatio...

Tompion, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Tompion, Thomas, 1639?–1713, English clockmaker. When the Royal Observatory at Greenwich was established in 1676, Tompion was chosen to make two clocks, to be wound only once a year, which proved to...

Dinwiddie, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Dinwiddie, Robert, 1693–1770, colonial governor of Virginia (1751–58), b. near Glasgow, Scotland. He was collector of customs (1727–38) for Bermuda and surveyor general (1738–51) for the Baham...

Delaunay, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Delaunay, Robert rōbĕrˈ dəlōnāˈ [key], 1885–1941, French painter; husband of Sonia Delaunay-Terk. By 1909, Delaunay had progressed from a neoimpressionist phase to cubism, applying cubist pri...

Desnos, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Desnos, Robert rôbĕrˈ dĕsnôsˈ [key], 1900–1945, French poet. Among the best-known surrealist poets, he was one of the chief proponents of so-called automatic writing. He put himself in a tranc...

Devereux, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Devereux, Robert: see Essex, Robert Devereux, 2d earl of. ...

Dodsley, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Dodsley, Robert, 1703–64, English publisher and author. He wrote occasional verses, and also several plays, including The King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737); a ballad opera, The Blind Beggar of...

Dudley, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Dudley, Robert: see Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of. ...