Robert Hooke, FRS (July 18, 1635 - March 3, 1703) was an English polymath who played an important role in the scientific revolution, through both experimental and theoretical work.

The famous Newton quote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants", appeared originally in a letter to Hooke, and this has been interpreted as a sarcastic remark directed against Hooke. This is somewhat speculative: Hooke and Newton had exchanged many letters in tones of mutual regard, and Hooke was not of particularly short stature, although he was of slight build and had been afflicted from his youth with a severe stoop.

Newton's animosity towards Hooke extended to the removal of Hooke's portrait in the Royal Society (long believed destroyed but recently rediscovered) and an attempt (prevented) to have Hooke's papers in the Society burned. It is probably thanks to Newton that Hooke's name remained relatively unknown until the latter part of the 20th Century, although Hooke's own unsympathetic character was undoubtedly also a factor: he was known to have had acrimonious exchanges with many other contemporaries, and to bear grudges.