Robert Boyle

author

Robert Boyle

1627–1691

A key figure in the Scientific Revolution, this Anglo-Irish natural philosopher helped turn chemistry into an experimental science. He is best remembered for Boyle’s law and for writing The Sceptical Chymist, a landmark work that challenged older ideas about matter.

2 Audiobooks

The Sceptical Chymist or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.

The Sceptical Chymist or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.

by Robert Boyle

Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours (1664)

Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours (1664)

by Robert Boyle

About the author

Born at Lismore Castle in Ireland on January 25, 1627, he was the son of Richard Boyle, the Earl of Cork. After time at Eton and years of travel and study in Europe, he settled into a life of inquiry, eventually working in Oxford and later London.

He became famous for careful experiments, especially with gases and air pressure. Boyle’s law, describing the relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas, made his name enduring, and The Sceptical Chymist helped move chemistry away from medieval alchemy toward a more modern, evidence-based approach.

Boyle was also closely connected with the early Royal Society and was known in his own time not only as a scientist but as a prolific writer on religion and natural philosophy. He died in London on December 31, 1691, leaving a reputation as one of the founders of modern chemistry and a strong advocate for experiment as the path to knowledge.