Inside: Robert Boyle was an important guy in the 17th C and he is considered one of the founders of modern chemistry. He was responsible for making chemistry a respected science. Because of him, it became a real science not a study of alchemy and mysticism. He introduced the idea of careful measurements and repeated experiments.
Robert Boyle was born in County Waterford in the south-east of Ireland on January 25, 1627. He came from a large family being the 14th child of the Earl of Cork.
He was an important guy in the 17th C and he is considered one of the founders of modern chemistry.
Robert Boyle was responsible for making chemistry a respected science. Because of him, it became a real science not a study of alchemy and mysticism. He introduced the idea of careful measurements and repeated experiments.
He defined elements, compounds, and mixtures.
It is because of Boyle we have ‘chemical analysis,’ a phrase he devised. Indeed, he contributed several powerful ideas to this field.
He worked with Robert Hooke, a famous scientist in his own right and together they created the vacuum chamber or air pump. This was a pretty sophisticated piece of scientific equipment for its time.
He discovered the first of the gas laws; the one relating the pressure of a gas to its volume-the volume of a gas decreases with increasing pressure and vice versa. This law is now known as Boyle’s Law.
Boyle determined that electricity can travel through a vacuum. He discovered, however, that sound cannot do the same.
He contributed to the particle theory of matter by discovering that the movement of particles creates heat.
It was Robert Boyle who created the foundation for the scientific method. He informed other scientists that it was important to achieve reliable and repeatable results.
Robert Boyle was a founding member of the Royal Society in London, created in 1660. It was a meeting place for scientists to watch experiments and discuss science.
He died in London on December 31, 1691 at the age of 64.
