Robert Boyle

Irish scientist

• Born: January 25, 1627
• Birthplace: Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland
• Died: December 31, 1691
• Place of death: London, England

Boyle discovered Boyle’s law, which describes the relationship between air pressure and volume. He promoted the experimental method in scientific study, especially in the field of chemistry.

Early Life

Robert Boyle was the seventh son and the fourteenth child born to his parents. Boyle’s father, Richard Boyle, was the earl of Cork, reported to be the wealthiest man in the British Isles at the time of Robert’s birth. The earl’s wife, Katherine Fenton, was the only daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, the secretary of state for Ireland. Sadly, Robert Boyle hardly knew his mother, for she died of tuberculosis at the age of forty-four in February of 1630, when he was only four years old.

The wealth, prestige, and character traits Boyle inherited from both of his parents helped immensely in his career as a scientist. Most contemporaries of the Boyle family remark on the physical and temperamental resemblances between young Boyle and his father. Each was a tall man of wiry build with a long, thin, pale face and large eyes. Also, each was an intellectual and scholarly man who brought unusual amounts of energy and determination to the tasks he undertook. Richard Boyle had migrated to Ireland from England in 1588; he rose quickly in jobs of state in Ireland and made his fortune from land purchases. He made many friends and allies in public life—a phenomenon that would be repeated in his son’s life. Each Boyle was also scrupulous about recording the details of his business, and each was an industrious worker.

Boyle was reared in the Irish countryside of Munster County, where his father had large landholdings. A peasant woman served as his nurse, and her cottage was his home during infancy. It was hoped that the simple foods, fresh air, and exercise that Robert had as a youngster would lead to good health in his adult years. He remained a frail if active person, however, all of his life. He was especially uncomfortable in cold weather and wore a series of cloaks to keep himself warm. At age twenty, he developed what was diagnosed as a kidney stone, a painful ailment. He spent much of his adult life seeking remedies for the stone and other illnesses. He often made his own medicines and tested their effectiveness on himself.

Boyle was strong enough at age eight to be sent to Eton in England to study along with his older brother, Francis Boyle. Robert’s tutor at Eton, John Harrison, was highly influential in the boy’s early intellectual development. Harrison first instilled in young Robert an immense passion for reading and learning that would remain with Boyle throughout his lifetime; this passion led him to read almost all day long. Since Boyle’s eyes were weak, Harrison had to force him to leave his studies and play outdoors for a part of each day.

The Boyles had been without the services of Harrison at Eton for about a year when, in October of 1638, Richard Boyle sent his two sons to study in Europe. Their new tutor was a Frenchman they called Monsieur Marcombes; they lived with him for the next six years. The majority of this time the trio spent in Geneva, Switzerland, with some extended visits to Italy, especially to Rome and Florence. During these six years, Robert studied a variety of subjects, including French, mathematics, and theology. Boyle became so good at conversing in French that he could pass as a native Frenchman.

At age thirteen, in 1640, during a sudden and violent thunderstorm in Geneva, Robert believed that he was truly converted to a fervent Christianity. He was a devout believer for the rest of his life, and his studies in the physical sciences were always conducted so as to demonstrate the existence of God in the universe. The regularity of physical and chemical laws convinced Boyle that an intelligent God had created the world.

In conjunction with his religious beliefs, Boyle studied several ancient languages in order to read the Bible in its original form. These language studies especially occupied his teenage years. At fifteen, Boyle read and admired the works of Galileo, which would influence his later scientific studies. Boyle also admired Francis Bacon , the English essayist and philosopher who advocated a form of empiricism. In this system, the facts or data are observed in order to reach a theory rather than a theory being used to judge the data.

Life’s Work

The civil wars in England and Ireland delayed Boyle’s return home from his studies in Europe. At last, in the summer of 1644, he landed in England, where he fortunately found his older sister, Katherine, Lady Ranelagh, with whom he resided for several months. When his finances were set in order, he moved in March of 1646 to Stalbridge, England, where he spent the next six years reading and writing while maintaining his estate.

Boyle at this time began meeting regularly with a group of scientists of varied interests in London; this group became known as the Invisible College, since they had no permanent meeting place. From the influence of these men, Boyle became interested in experimental philosophy. He especially enjoyed studies in chemistry, since they were closely allied with his interest in medicine and remedies for illness.

Since Boyle’s home at Stalbridge was not convenient to any major college, he consented to move to Oxford in the summer of 1654 when asked to do so by Dr. John Wilkins, the warden of Wadham College. In Oxford, Boyle set up an elaborate laboratory for scientific research on High Street. He was ably assisted by various aides, craftsmen, and secretaries, the most noted and skilled of these being Robert Hooke . This life of experimenting, recording, and discussion that Boyle established on High Street would continue for the next fourteen years. An immense amount of scientific and naturalistic data was recorded by Boyle and his staff during these years. Most of this information would be published for use by other scientists and scholars.

The first important book that Boyle published was New Experiments Physio-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air and Its Effects (1660). The experiments described here (in detail, as Boyle always did) were in large part related to physics rather than chemistry. Boyle had learned of an air pump invented in 1654 in Germany by Otto von Guericke . This pump created a vacuum in which scientific experiments could be performed and new physical concepts tested; it needed improvement, however, to work efficiently and consistently.

Boyle’s ingenious assistant, Hooke, designed and built an improved air pump by 1659. With this new laboratory instrument, Boyle conducted numerous experiments on air pressure. From the detailed notes he kept on his work, Boyle was able to conclude in New Experiments Physio-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air and Its Effects that air volume always varies in inverse proportion to pressure. He further explained this important phenomenon in the second edition (1662) of the book. This physical law, known as Boyle’s law, is his most widely recognized permanent contribution to the field of physics.

Boyle’s other writings would have effects on the chemical sciences in addition to physics. In his Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours (1664), he accurately described the physical phenomena that caused the colors black and white. This book had an impact on Sir Isaac Newton’s later works in optics. The next year, Boyle published New Experiments and Observations Touching Cold (1665), in which he discussed how thermometers could be improved. (They were in his day a fairly new and crude piece of laboratory equipment invented by Galileo.) Boyle also studied the effects of freezing on various chemical mixtures; he was able to disprove the widely held idea that water and other liquids contract when frozen. These areas of study were also later reinvestigated by Newton.

Of all of his numerous scientific publications, Boyle is most famous for his book The Sceptical Chymist (1661, rev. 1679). In this work, Boyle refuted two influential schools of scientific thought popular in his era: the Aristotelian and the Paracelsian. The two schools of thought were similar in that both held that all matter was composed only of a certain few basic substances (and nothing else). The Aristotelians believed that air, earth, fire, and water were the four elements that made up all animate and inanimate things in nature, while the Paracelsians held that there were three basic principles that combined to form all matter: sulfur, salt, and mercury.

Boyle demonstrated, by experimentation (something the other two systems did not employ), that these theories were incorrect. Instead, he argued that the universe was composed of numerous small particles, or corpuscles, of various shapes and sizes. Their alignments and combinations, and even their motion, determined what element would be formed. Boyle’s conception of matter is known as corpuscular philosophy; it was greatly influenced by the mechanistic theory of Francis Bacon.

In the summer of 1668, Boyle returned to live in London at Pall Mall with his sister, Katherine, Lady Ranelagh. The two kept a house together, for Boyle never married, and his sister was separated from her husband. Boyle and Katherine were very popular and famous persons in their era. They entertained frequently, and Boyle even had to post a sign on their door to state when visitors were not allowed. Only in this way could he conduct his studies; he also maintained an extensive correspondence with scientists throughout England and Europe. Boyle continued his scientific work even after suffering a stroke in June of 1670, which left him partially paralyzed. He died on December 31, 1691, exactly one week after his sister had died. Both were buried in London.

Significance

Boyle made two important contributions to science, particularly physics and chemistry. The first is a tangible contribution: He was a founding member of the Royal Society of England in 1662. This group of eminent scientists, including William Brouncker, Robert Murray, Paul Neile, John Wilkins, and Sir Christopher Wren , met regularly to present papers on scientific thought and to discuss the results of experiments. The society also kept meticulous records of their proceedings (perhaps a direct result of Boyle’s participation) and published the first science journal in England. The Royal Society promoted excellence and dedication in the sciences and attracted such men as Sir Isaac Newton to careers in science. Boyle, solidly a member of the British aristocracy and noted for his hard work on behalf of experimentation, did much to raise the science of chemistry to a high level of respectability (something it previously lacked in English society and culture). King Charles II officially chartered the Royal Society in 1662 and himself did some amateur experiments.

Boyle’s second contribution is less concrete but nevertheless vital. Boyle’s experimental approach to chemistry helped to bring it into the realm of modern scholarship. Previously, a mystical or mysterious element was associated with chemistry. Alchemy, or the alleged changing of one substance into another (most often a base metal into a precious one), was almost the only chemical investigation done until Boyle’s day. Fraudulent claims, farfetched speculation, and outright trickery made alchemy an unrespectable method of study. By replacing quasi-scientific work with the experimental method, Boyle did a great service for future generations of chemical researchers.

Ironically, Boyle made no specific discoveries that remain as part of modern chemistry, although he is frequently called the father of modern chemistry. In his experiments with air, he came close to discovering oxygen, but Joseph Priestly would actually do that many years later. Similarly, Boyle’s work on the nature of colors was less influential than that of Newton, who worked with a prism in his experiments. Boyle himself acknowledged his lack of acumen in experiments requiring complex mathematical calculations. He thought that his greatest contribution to future scientists would come from the mass of naturalistic data he had accumulated in his lifetime. That data, if one includes his published scientific treatises in it, did prove to be Boyle’s most important legacy. He provided for others an essential foundation on which to build their own scientific accomplishments.

Bibliography

Anstey, Peter R. The Philosophy of Robert Boyle. New York: Routledge, 2000. An overview of Boyle’s philosophy, including his theories of matter, causation, and the laws of nature.

Boas, Marie. Robert Boyle and Seventeenth-Century Chemistry. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1958. The leading authority on Boyle, Boas was the first person thoroughly to study his papers at the Royal Society. She is both scholarly and fair in her assessment of his contributions to chemistry.

Boyle, Robert. The Sceptical Chymist. London: F. Cadwell, 1661. Reprint. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1911. This is not an easy book to read, for the language and style are from the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, the dialogue Boyle sets up among characters decisively refutes earlier chemical theories. He also provides his own empirical approach to science studies.

Conant, James B., ed. Robert Boyle’s Experiments in Pneumatics. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950. Detailed explanations of Boyle’s air pump experiments, with illustrations to help the reader visualize the numerous steps in important experiments. Offers excellent background material on Boyle’s life and the work at his laboratory.

Hall, A. Rupert. From Galileo to Newton, 1630-1720: The Rise of Modern Science. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. Hall discusses the major developments in this fertile period of scientific achievement. Provides an excellent understanding of Boyle’s contributions to the advancement of chemistry.

Hall, Marie Boas. Robert Boyle on Natural Philosophy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1965. In her second major book on Boyle, Hall continues to explicate his work clearly and concisely. She provides edited selections from some of Boyle’s most important writing and an informative introductory essay.

Maddison, R. E. W. The Life of the Honourable Robert Boyle, F.R.S. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1969. Maddison details Boyle’s life, career, and interactions with other seventeenth century scientists but does not analyze the impact or influence of Boyle’s work.

More, Louis T. The Life and Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle. New York: Oxford University Press, 1944. More divides this biography into two parts: The first deals with Boyle’s personal and social life, while the second offers an in-depth description of his writings. More analyzes all of Boyle’s books and articles, including his youthful meditations and religious tracts.

Principe, Lawrence. The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and His Alchemical Quest. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998. Reveals Boyle’s lifelong but carefully hidden pursuit of alchemy. Principe reconstructs fragments of Boyle’s unpublished manuscript, Dialogue on the Transmutation and Melioration of Metals, to demonstrate Boyle’s enthusiasm for alchemy. Principe maintains that interest in alchemy was common among seventeenth-century scientists and argues that alchemy played an important role in the scientific achievements of this era.

Sargent, Rose-Mary. The Diffident Naturalist: Robert Boyle and the Philosophy of Experiment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Sargent explains how English common law, alchemy, medicine, Christianity, and other influences shaped Boyle’s philosophy of experimentation.

Toulmin, Stephen, and June Goodfield. The Architecture of Matter: The Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology of Matter, Both Animate and Inanimate. New York: Harper and Row, 1962. This is an extremely well-written survey of the history of physics and chemistry. The authors combine their scholarship with a lively narrative of the major developments in these sciences.

Wojcik, Jan W. Robert Boyle and the Limits of Reason. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. A study of Boyle’s theory of knowledge, examining his views on the limitation of reason within the context of seventeenth-century English theological controversies.