Boyle, the Hon. Robert

Boyle, the Hon. Robert (1627-91), scientist, b. Cork, Ireland.

The Hon. Robert Boyle was the seventh son of the Earl of Cork.

In his day, the science of chemistry barely existed. Alchemists were interested in only one scientific trick-turning base metal into gold.

Boyle conducted a great many experiments with air, a vacuum, burning and breathing, and he wrote a book called The Sceptical Chemist.

In this he said that there were certain substances which could not be changed into anything simpler. These he called elements, and he made a list of them. It was a small list compared to the list of 117 (as of 2008) we have today, but it changed people's ideas about what matter was made of.

Boyle's name is recalled today in a law of chemistry, he discovered-Boyle's law. This law is about the behaviour of gases.

See John Tiner Robert Boyle: Trailblazer of Science