Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle bigraphy, stories - Alchemists

Robert Boyle : biography

25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691

Robert Boyle, FRS, was a 17th-century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as Irish and Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the Plantations.

Although his research clearly has its roots in the alchemical tradition, Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. He is best known for Boyle’s law, which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system.Levine, Ira. N (1978). "Physical Chemistry" University of Brooklyn: McGraw-HillLevine, Ira. N. (1978), p12 gives the original definition. Among his works, The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry.


Early years


As a child, Boyle was fostered to a local family, as were his elder brothers. Consequently, the eldest of the Boyle children had sufficient Irish at four years of age to act as a translator for his father. Boyle received private tutoring in Latin, Greek and French and when he was eight years old, following the death of his mother, he was sent to Eton College in England. His father’s friend, Sir Henry Wotton, was then the provost of the college.


Middle years

Boyle returned to England from continental Europe in mid-1644 with a keen interest for scientific research.See biographies of Robert Boyle at , , and . His father had died the previous year and had left him the manor of Stalbridge in Dorset, England and substantial estates in County Limerick in Ireland that he had acquired. From that time, Robert devoted his life to scientific research and soon took a prominent place in the band of enquirers, known as the "Invisible College", who devoted themselves to the cultivation of the "new philosophy". They met frequently in London, often at Gresham College, and some of the members also had meetings at Oxford.

