Much of what is known of hook's early life comes from an autobiography that he commenced in 1696 but never completed. Richard waller mentions it in his introduction to the posthumous works of robert hooke,m.d.s.r.s.,printed in 1705. The work of waller,along with john ward's lives of the gresham professors and john aubrey's brief lives,formthe major near-contemporaneous biographical accounts of hooke.