Robert Hooke was a founding member of the Royal Society and was made Curator of Experiments in 1662. His book Micrographia was the first important work on microscopy (the study of tiny objects by means of a microscope). First published in 1664, it contains beautiful engravings made after Hooke’s drawings of the creatures he was able to observe through microscopes. Micrographia is dedicated to Charles II who kept a copy in his private library at Whitehall.