Robert Boyle

Lore & Background

Boyle was born at Lismore Castle in County Waterford, the seventh son and fourteenth child of the 1st Earl of Cork and Catherine Fenton. As a child he was raised by a wet nurse, and received private tutoring in Latin, Greek, and French. After his mother's death, eight-year-old Robert and his brother Francis were sent to Eton College in England, where his father's friend Sir Henry Wotton was provost. A private tutor, Robert Carew, was hired to teach the boys Irish, but 'only Mr. Robert sometimes desires it [Irish] and is a little entered in it'—they 'affect not the Irish.' After over three years at Eton, Robert travelled abroad with a French tutor, visiting Italy in 1641 and remaining in Florence during the winter studying the 'paradoxes of the great star-gazer,' the elderly Galileo Galilei. Returning to England in mid-1644, he inherited the manor of Stalbridge in Dorset and substantial estates in County Limerick. He settled at Stalbridge House between 1644 and 1652, conducting many experiments, and joined the 'Invisible College.' In 1654 he moved to Oxford, and with Robert Hooke's assistance improved Otto von Guericke's vacuum pump, completing his 'machina Boyleana' in 1659. In 1662, while answering objections from Jesuit Francis Line, he first mentioned the law that the volume of a gas varies inversely with pressure. In 1663 the Invisible College became the Royal Society, and Boyle was named a member of the council. In 1680 he was elected president but declined due to scruples about oaths. In 1668 he moved to London, residing with his elder sister Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh, in Pall Mall, where he experimented in her laboratory. His health began to fail seriously in 1669, and he died on 31 December 1691 from paralysis, just a week after his sister's death. He was buried in the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields, with his friend Bishop Gilbert Burnet preaching the funeral sermon.

Reader's Guide

Boyle's great merit as a scientific investigator is that he carried out the principles Francis Bacon espoused in the Novum Organum, though he would not avow himself a follower of Bacon or any other teacher. He refrained from studying atomical and Cartesian systems, and even the Novum Organum itself, except to 'transiently consult' them. He famously stated: 'I, ... love not to believe any thing upon Conjectures, when by a not over-difficult Experiment I can try whether it be True or no...' His work The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone book in chemistry. Boyle's law—that the volume of a gas varies inversely to pressure—was originally hypothesized by Henry Power in 1661; Boyle in 1662 included a reference to a paper by Power but mistakenly attributed it to Richard Towneley. In continental Europe it is sometimes attributed to Edme Mariotte, who published in 1676. Boyle made a 'wish list' of 24 possible inventions including 'the prolongation of life,' 'the art of flying,' 'perpetual light,' 'a ship to sail with all winds, and a ship not to be sunk,' 'practicable and certain way of finding longitudes,' and 'potent drugs to alter or exalt imagination, waking, memory and other functions and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc.'—all but a few have come true. In his will, Boyle endowed a series of lectures that came to be known as the Boyle Lectures.

Did You Know?

• Boyle was the seventh son and fourteenth child of the 1st Earl of Cork and Catherine Fenton.
• He studied the 'paradoxes of the great star-gazer,' the elderly Galileo Galilei, in Florence during the winter of 1641.
• Boyle's law was originally hypothesized by Henry Power in 1661; Boyle mistakenly attributed it to Richard Towneley in 1662.
• He made a 'wish list' of 24 possible inventions including 'the art of flying' and 'a ship not to be sunk'—all but a few have come true.
• Boyle declined the presidency of the Royal Society in 1680 due to scruples about oaths.

Noble Origins and a Continental Education

Robert Boyle entered the world on 25 January 1627 at Lismore Castle in County Waterford, the seventh son and fourteenth child of Richard Boyle, the 1st Earl of Cork ('the Great Earl of Cork'), and Catherine Fenton. Lord Cork had arrived in Dublin from England in 1588 during the Tudor plantations and had amassed enormous wealth and landholdings by the time Robert was born. Catherine was the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, former Secretary of State for Ireland, and Alice Weston. As a child, Boyle was raised by a wet nurse, as were his elder brothers. He received private tutoring in Latin, Greek, and French. When he was eight years old, following his mother's death, he and his brother Francis were sent to Eton College in England, where his father's friend Sir Henry Wotton was provost. His father hired a private tutor, Robert Carew, who had knowledge of Irish, but 'only Mr. Robert sometimes desires it [Irish] and is a little entered in it'—despite 'many reasons' given by Carew, 'they practise the French and Latin but they affect not the Irish.' After spending over three years at Eton, Robert travelled abroad with a French tutor. They visited Italy in 1641 and remained in Florence during the winter of that year studying the 'paradoxes of the great star-gazer,' the elderly Galileo Galilei.

The Pneumatical Engine and Boyle's Law

Robert returned to England from continental Europe in mid-1644 with a keen interest in scientific research. His father had died the previous year, leaving him the manor of Stalbridge in Dorset and substantial estates in County Limerick. He made his residence at Stalbridge House between 1644 and 1652, settling in a laboratory where he conducted many experiments. He soon took a prominent place in the 'Invisible College,' who met frequently in London, often at Gresham College, with some members also meeting at Oxford. In 1654, Boyle left Ireland for Oxford to pursue his work more successfully. Reading in 1657 of Otto von Guericke's vacuum pump, he set himself, with the assistance of Robert Hooke, to devise improvements. His 'machina Boyleana' or 'Pneumatical Engine' was finished in 1659. Among the critics of the views put forward in his book New Experiments Physico-Mechanical was Jesuit Francis Line, and it was while answering his objections that Boyle made his first mention of the law that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas. The person who originally formulated the hypothesis was Henry Power in 1661. Boyle in 1662 included a reference to a paper written by Power, but mistakenly attributed it to Richard Towneley. In continental Europe, the hypothesis is sometimes attributed to Edme Mariotte, though he did not publish it until 1676 and was probably aware of Boyle's work.

The Sceptical Chymist and a New Chemistry

Robert 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. Among his works, The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry. Boyle's great merit as a scientific investigator is that he carried out the principles which Francis Bacon espoused in the Novum Organum, yet he would not avow himself a follower of Bacon or any other teacher. He refrained from any study of the atomical and the Cartesian systems, and even of the Novum Organum itself, though he admits to 'transiently consulting' them about a few particulars. Nothing was more alien to his mental temperament than the spinning of hypotheses. He regarded the acquisition of knowledge as an end in itself, gaining a wider outlook on the aims of scientific inquiry than his predecessors. He was also an alchemist, believing the transmutation of metals to be a possibility, and he carried out experiments in the hope of achieving it. He was instrumental in obtaining the repeal, by the Royal Mines Act 1688, of the statute of Henry IV against multiplying gold and silver.

Faith, Family, and a Life of Curiosity

Boyle was a devout and pious Anglican and is noted for his works in theology. In 1668 he left Oxford for London, residing at the house of his elder sister Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh, in Pall Mall. He experimented in the laboratory she had in her home and attended her salon of intellectuals interested in the sciences. The siblings maintained 'a lifelong intellectual partnership, where brother and sister shared medical remedies, promoted each other's scientific ideas, and edited each other's manuscripts.' His contemporaries widely acknowledged Katherine's influence on his work, but later historiographers dropped discussion of her accomplishments and relationship to her brother. In 1669 his health began to fail seriously, and he gradually withdrew from public engagements. He died on 31 December 1691, just a week after the death of his sister, from paralysis. He was buried in the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields, his funeral sermon preached by his friend Bishop Gilbert Burnet. In his will, Boyle endowed a series of lectures that came to be known as the Boyle Lectures. He also made a 'wish list' of 24 possible inventions including 'the prolongation of life,' 'the art of flying,' 'perpetual light,' 'a ship to sail with all winds, and a ship not to be sunk,' 'practicable and certain way of finding longitudes,' and 'potent drugs to alter or exalt imagination, waking, memory and other functions and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc.'—all but a few have come true.