He is best known forBoyle's law,[4] which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolutepressure andvolume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within aclosed system.[5]
Among his works,The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry. He was a devout and piousAnglican and is noted for his works in theology.[6][7]
As a child, Boyle was raised by awet nurse,[10] as were his elder brothers. Boyle received private tutoring in Latin, Greek, and French and when he was eight years old, following the death of his mother, he, and his brother Francis, were sent toEton College in England. His father's friend,Sir Henry Wotton, was then theprovost of the college.[8]
During this time, his father hired a private tutor, Robert Carew, who had knowledge ofIrish, to act as a private tutor to his sons in Eton. However, "only Mr. Robert sometimes desires it [Irish] and is a little entered in it", but despite the "many reasons" given by Carew to draw their attention to it, "they practise the French and Latin but they affect not the Irish".[11] After spending over three years at Eton, Robert travelled abroad with a French tutor. They visited Italy in 1641 and remained inFlorence during the winter of that year studying the "paradoxes of the great star-gazer", the elderlyGalileo Galilei.[8]
Middle years
Emblematic image of aRosicrucian College; illustration fromSpeculum sophicum Rhodo-stauroticum, a 1618 work byTheophilus Schweighardt.Frances Yates identifies this as the "Invisible College of the Rosy Cross. Robert Boyle was a member of this association.
Robert returned to England fromcontinental Europe in mid-1644 with a keen interest in scientific research.[12] His father,Lord Cork, had died the previous year and had left him the manor ofStalbridge in Dorset as well as substantial estates inCounty Limerick in Ireland that he had acquired. Robert then made his residence atStalbridge House, between 1644 and 1652, and settled in a laboratory where he conducted many experiments.[13] From that time, Robert devoted his life toscientific 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 atGresham College, and some of the members also had meetings atOxford.[8]Having made several visits to his Irish estates beginning in 1647, Robert moved to Ireland in 1652 but became frustrated at his inability to make progress in his chemical work. In one letter, he described Ireland as "a barbarous country where chemical spirits were so misunderstood and chemical instruments so unprocurable that it was hard to have any Hermetic thoughts in it."[14]
Boyle's arms (shown on the right right) displayed in the Great Quadrangle of All Souls College, Oxford
In 1654, Boyle left Ireland for Oxford to pursue his work more successfully. An inscription can be found on the wall ofUniversity College, Oxford, theHigh Street atOxford (now the location of theShelley Memorial), marking the spot where Cross Hall stood until the early 19th century. It was here that Boyle rented rooms from the wealthy apothecary who owned the Hall.
Reading in 1657 ofOtto von Guericke'svacuum pump, he set himself, with the assistance ofRobert Hooke, to devise improvements in its construction. His "machina Boyleana" or "Pneumatical Engine" was finished in 1659.
Among the critics of the views put forward in this book was aJesuit,Francis Line (1595–1675), and it was while answering his objections that Boyle made his first mention ofthe law that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas, which among English-speaking people is usually calledBoyle's law, after his name.[8] The person who originally formulated the hypothesis wasHenry Power in 1661. Boyle in 1662 included a reference to a paper written by Power, but mistakenly attributed it toRichard Towneley. In continental Europe, the hypothesis is sometimes attributed toEdme Mariotte, although he did not publish it until 1676 and was probably aware of Boyle's work at the time.[16]
One of Robert Boyle's notebooks (1690–1691) held by theRoyal Society of London. The Royal Society archives holds 46 volumes of philosophical, scientific and theological papers by Boyle and seven volumes of his correspondence.
He made a "wish list" of 24 possibleinventions which included "theprolongation of life", the "art of flying", "perpetual light", "making armour light and extremely hard", "a ship to sail with all winds, and a shipnot to be sunk", "practicable and certain way of findinglongitudes", "potent drugs to alter or exalt imagination, waking, memory and other functions andappease pain, procureinnocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc.". All but a few of the 24 have come true.[17][18]
In 1668 he left Oxford forLondon where he resided at the house of his elder sisterKatherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh, inPall Mall.[8] 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."[19] His contemporaries widely acknowledged Katherine's influence on his work, but later historiographers dropped discussion of her accomplishments and relationship to her brother from their histories.
Later years
Plaque at the site of Boyle and Hooke's experiments in Oxford
In 1669 his health, never very strong, began to fail seriously and he gradually withdrew from his public engagements, ceasing his communications to the Royal Society, and advertising his desire to be excused from receiving guests, "unless upon occasions very extraordinary", on Tuesday and Friday forenoon, and Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. In the leisure thus gained he wished to "recruit his spirits, range his papers", and prepare some important chemical investigations which he proposed to leave "as a kind of Hermetic legacy to the studious disciples of that art", but of which he did not make known the nature. His health became still worse in 1691,[8] and he died on 31 December that year,[20] just a week after the death of his sister, Katherine, in whose home he had lived and with whom he had shared scientific pursuits for more than twenty years. Boyle died from paralysis. He was buried in the churchyard ofSt Martin-in-the-Fields, his funeral sermon being preached by his friend, BishopGilbert Burnet.[8] In his will, Boyle endowed a series of lectures that came to be known as theBoyle Lectures.
Scientific contributions
Boyle'svacuum pump. It illustrates: a 28.4-litre glass "receiver" (A) connected by a stopcock (S, N) to a 36-cm-long brass pumping cylinder, through which a padded piston (4) could be cranked by a toothed shaft with handle (5, 6, 7). To operate the air pump, first, the stopcock was closed, and the piston was cranked down. Then, with the stopcock opened, part of the air in the receiver moves into the cylinder. Then the stopcock was closed, the brass plug (R) removed, and the piston raised, expelling air from the cylinder. As the procedure was repeated, the air pressure in the receiver decreased.[21]
Boyle's great merit as a scientific investigator is that he carried out the principles whichFrancis Bacon espoused in theNovum Organum. Yet he would not avow himself a follower of Bacon, or indeed of any other teacher.[8]
Emphasis on experiments
On several occasions, he mentions that to keep his judgment as unprepossessed as might be with any of the modern theories of philosophy, until he was "provided of experiments" to help him judge of them. He refrained from any study of theatomical and theCartesian 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. "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..."[22]
He regarded the acquisition of knowledge as an end in itself, and in consequence, he gained a wider outlook on the aims of scientific inquiry than had been enjoyed by his predecessors for many centuries. This, however, did not mean that he paid no attention to the practical application of science, nor that he despised practical knowledge.[8]
Fig. 3: Illustration ofExcerptum ex collectionibus philosophicis anglicis... novum genus lampadis à Rob. Boyle ... published inActa Eruditorum, 1682
Physics and Chemistry
Vacuum pump
To Boyle,Guericke's vacuum pump had two important limitations. Firstly, its evacuation required "the continual labour of two strong men for divers hours",[22] and secondly, "the Receiver, or Glass to be empty'd, consisting of one entire and uninterrupted Globe ... of Glass ... is so made, that things cannot be convey'd into it".[22] Hooke constructed a pump that could be operated on a desktop, and conveniently opened to insert candles, mice, birds, bells, pendulums, and other research objects.[23] With Hooke's pump, Boyle began a series of experiments on the properties of air.[4][8] An account of Boyle's work with the pump was published in 1660 under the titleNew Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air, and its Effects.[24]
Chemistry
Robert Boyle was analchemist;[25] and believing thetransmutation of metals to be a possibility, he carried out experiments in the hope of achieving it; and he was instrumental in obtaining the repeal, by theRoyal Mines Act 1688 (1 Will. & Mar. c. 30), of the statute ofHenry IV against multiplying gold and silver, theGold and Silver Act 1403 (5 Hen. 4. c. 4).[26][8] With all the important work he accomplished inphysics,chemistry was his peculiar and favourite study. His first book on the subject wasThe Sceptical Chymist, published in 1661, in which he criticised the "experiments whereby vulgarSpagyrists are wont to endeavour to evince their Salt,Sulphur andMercury to be the true Principles of Things". For him, chemistry was the science of the composition of substances, not merely an adjunct to the arts of the alchemist or the physician.[8]
Elements, compounds, and particles of matter
Boyle endorsed the view of elements as the undecomposable constituents of material bodies; and made the distinction betweenmixtures andcompounds. He made considerable progress in the technique of detecting their ingredients, a process which he designated by the term "analysis". He further supposed that the elements were ultimately composed ofparticles of various sorts and sizes, into which, however, they were not to be resolved in any known way. He studied the chemistry ofcombustion and ofrespiration, and conducted experiments inphysiology, where, however, he was hampered by the "tenderness of his nature" which kept him from anatomicaldissections, especiallyvivisections, though he knew them to be "most instructing".[8]
"Factitious airs"
Around 1670, upon producing what is now known to behydrogen, Boyle coined the term "factitious airs".[27]Factitious means "artificial, not natural".[28] Later, English chemist and physicistHenry Cavendish used the term "factitious air" to refer to "any kind of air which is contained in other bodies in an unelastic state, and is produced from thence by art".[29]
Heat
Like English philosopherFrancis Bacon,[30]Galileo Galilei,[31] and Robert Hooke[32][33] had done before him, Boyle declared that heat consists of the motion of the invisible, constituent particles of objects.[34]
Other contributions
Among his major work in and contributions to physics wereBoyle's law, the discovery of the role played by air in the propagation of sound, and investigations of the expansive force of freezing water,specific gravities,refractive powers,crystals, electricity, colour, andhydrostatics.[8]
Theological interests
In addition to philosophy, Boyle devoted much time to theology, showing a very decided leaning to the practical side and an indifference to controversialpolemics. At theRestoration ofCharles II of England in 1660, he was favourably received at court and in 1665 would have received the provostship of Eton College had he agreed to take holy orders, but this he refused to do on the ground that his writings on religious subjects would have greater weight coming from a layman than a paid minister of the Church.[8]
Moreover, Boyle incorporated his scientific interests into his theology, believing that natural philosophy could provide powerful evidence for the existence of God. In works such asDisquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things (1688),[35] for instance, he criticised contemporary philosophers – such asRené Descartes – who denied that the study of nature could reveal much about God. Instead, Boyle argued that natural philosophers could use the design apparently on display in some parts of nature to demonstrate God's involvement with the world. He also attempted to tackle complex theological questions using methods derived from his scientific practices. InSome Physico-Theological Considerations about the Possibility of the Resurrection (1675), he used a chemical experiment known as the reduction to the pristine state as part of an attempt to demonstrate the physical possibility of theresurrection of the body. Throughout his career, Boyle tried to show that science could lend support to Christianity.[36]
As a director of theEast India Company[37] he spent large sums in promoting the spread of Christianity in the East, contributing liberally tomissionary societies and to the expenses of translating the Bible or portions of it into various languages.[8] Boyle supported the policy that the Bible should be available in the vernacular language of the people. AnIrish language version of theNew Testament was published in 1602 but was rare in Boyle's adult life. In 1680–85 Boyle personally financed the printing of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in Irish.[38] In this respect, Boyle's attitude to the Irish language differed from theProtestant Ascendancy class in Ireland at the time, which was generally hostile to the language and largely opposed the use of Irish (not only as a language of religious worship).[39]
Boyle also had amonogenist perspective aboutrace origin. He was a pioneer in studying races, and he believed that all human beings, no matter how diverse their physical differences, came from the same source:Adam and Eve. He studied reported stories of parents giving birth to different colouredalbinos, so he concluded that Adam and Eve were originally white and that Caucasians could give birth to different coloured races. Boyle also extended the theories ofRobert Hooke andIsaac Newton about colour and light via optical projection (inphysics) into discourses ofpolygenesis,[40] speculating that maybe these differences were due to "seminal impressions". Taking this into account, it might be considered that he envisioned a good explanation forcomplexion at his time, due to the fact that now we know that skin colour is disposed of bygenes. Boyle's writings mention that at his time, for "European Eyes", beauty was not measured so much incolour of skin, but in "stature, comely symmetry of the parts of the body, and good features in the face".[41] Various members of the scientific community rejected his views and described them as "disturbing" or "amusing".[42]
In his will, Boyle provided money for a series of lectures to defend theChristian religion against those he considered "notoriousinfidels, namelyatheists,deists,pagans, Jews and Muslims", with the provision that controversies between Christians were not to be mentioned (seeBoyle Lectures).[43][8]
Title page ofThe Sceptical Chymist (1661)Boyle's self-flowing flask, aperpetual motion machine, appears to fill itself throughsiphon action ("hydrostatic perpetual motion") and involves the "hydrostatic paradox".[46] This is not possible in reality; a siphon requires its "output" to be lower than the "input".Title page of "New Experiments and Observations Touching Cold" (1665)
The following are some of the more important of his works:[8]
1660 –New Experiments Physico-Mechanical: Touching the Spring of the Air and their Effects
1662 – Whereunto is Added a Defence of the Authors Explication of the Experiments, Against the Obiections ofFranciscus Linus andThomas Hobbes (a book-length addendum to the second edition ofNew Experiments Physico-Mechanical)
1663 –Considerations touching the Usefulness of Experimental Natural Philosophy (followed by a second part in 1671)
1664 –Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours, with Observations on a Diamond that Shines in the Dark
1665 –New Experiments and Observations Touching Cold
1666 –Origin of Forms and Qualities according to the Corpuscular Philosophy. (A continuation of his work on the spring of air demonstrated that a reduction in ambient pressure could lead to bubble formation in living tissue. This description of aviper in avacuum was the first recorded description ofdecompression sickness.)[48]
1669 –A Continuation of New Experiments Physico-mechanical, Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air, and Their Effects
1670 –Tracts about the Cosmical Qualities of Things, the Temperature of the Subterraneal and Submarine Regions, the Bottom of the Sea, &tc. with an Introduction to the History of Particular Qualities
1672 –Origin and Virtues of Gems
1673 – Essays of the Strange Subtilty, Great Efficacy, Determinate Nature of Effluviums
1682 – New Experiments and Observations upon the Icy Noctiluca (a further continuation of his work on the air)
1684 –Memoirs for the Natural History of the Human Blood
1685 – Short Memoirs for the Natural Experimental History ofMineral Waters
1686 –A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature
1690 –Medicina Hydrostatica
1691 –Experimenta et Observationes Physicae
Among his religious and philosophical writings were:
1648 (1659) –Some Motives and Incentives to the Love of God, often known by its running headSeraphic Love, written in 1648, but not published until 1659
1663 –Some Considerations Touching the Style of the H[oly]Scriptures
1664 –Excellence of Theology compared with Natural Philosophy
1665 – Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects, which was ridiculed bySwift inMeditation Upon a Broomstick, and byButler in An Occasional Reflection on Dr Charlton's Feeling a Dog's Pulse at Gresham College
1675 – Some Considerations about the Reconcileableness of Reason and Religion, with a Discourse about the Possibility of the Resurrection
Ambrose Godfrey – German-English chemist, inventor of the fire extinguisher (1660–1741), phosphorus manufacturer who started as Boyle's assistant
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump – 1768 oil-on-canvas painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, a painting of a demonstration of one of Boyle's experiments
^Brush, Stephen G. (2003).The Kinetic Theory of Gases: An Anthology of Classic Papers with Historical Commentary. History of Modern Physical Sciences Vol 1.Imperial College Press.ISBN978-1860943478.[page needed]
^More, Louis Trenchard (January 1941). "Boyle as Alchemist".Journal of the History of Ideas.2 (1). University of Pennsylvania Press:61–76.doi:10.2307/2707281.JSTOR2707281.
^MacIntosh, J. J.; Anstey, Peter (2010)."Robert Boyle". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall ed.). note 4.
^Adriaans, P. (2024). Zalta, E.N.; Nodelman, U. (eds.)."Information".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2024 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
^Cf. Hunter (2009), p. 147. "It forms a kind of sequel toSpring of the Air ... but although Boyle notes he might have published it as part of an appendix to that work, it formed a self-contained whole, dealing with atmospheric pressure with particular reference to liquid masses"
.jpg)
