Robert Boyle
1627-1691
The natural philosopher, chemist, and physicist Robert Boyle was born in Lismore Castle, County Waterford, Ireland in 1627. His father was Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork.
Boyle spent three years at Eton College before traveling through Europe with a tutor. He returned to England in 1644 to take up scientific research. After a brief return to Ireland beginning in 1652, Boyle moved to Oxford to set up a laboratory.
After experimenting with Otto von Guericke's air-pump, Boyle formulated the law--now called Boyle's law--that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas. Boyle was also an alchemist, and was interested in theology.
Boyle died in 1691 after a long illness.
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