Boyle, Robert

Name:
Boyle, Robert
Detailed information:
(1627–1691). A native of Ireland, Boyle devoted his life to experiments in what was then called “natural philosophy,” i.e., physical science. He was influenced early by Galileo. His interest aroused by a pump that had just been invented, Boyle studied the properties of air, on which he wrote a treatise (1660). Soon thereafter, he stated the famous law that bears his name (see following entry). Boyle's group of scientific enthusiasts was known as the “invisible college”, and in 1663 it became the Royal Society of London. Boyle was one of the first to apply the principle that Francis Bacon had described as “the new method”—namely, inductive experimentation as opposed to the deductive method of Aristotle—and this became and has remained the cornerstone of scientific research. Boyle also investigated hydrostatics, desalination of seawater, crystals, electricity, etc. He approached but never quite stated the atomic theory of matter; however, he did distinguish between compounds and mixtures and conceived the idea of “particles” becoming associated to form molecules.