Robert Boyle Research Paper

Robert Boyle was born on January 25, 1627 in Lismore Castle (Lismore, Ireland). His family was very wealthy, with both mom and dad having money. Boyle was sent to live with a poor Irish family, as his dad thought it would “toughen him up”. As a result, he developed a stutter. Soon after, at the age of eight, Boyle went to Eton College for three years. At the age of twelve he embarked on a lengthy tour of Europe with an older brother and a tutor. When he was fourteen, he learned how Galileo used math to explain the concept of motion. Enthralled by Galileo’s work, he smuggled it from Switzerland to further study it. In 1644, Boyle returned to England after his father died. While a civil war was erupting in England, Boyle took the time writing

his first book (Aretology). In 1646/1647, he equipped a laboratory for further experiments. He also began meeting with the “Philosophical College’ to exchange scientific ideas. At a young age, Boyle suffered an illness that permanently damaged his eyesight. After learning of Otto von Guericke’s vacuum concept, he and an assistant (Robert Hooke), improved on it, investigating the properties of air. While carrying out these experiments, they made a discovery. We know it as “Boyle’s Law”. Using a glass tube, the pair used mercury to vary the pressure on a fixed weight of air. Boyle found out that pressure multiplied by volume is a constant (when pressure on a gas is increased, the gas’s volume shrinks predictably). He also discovered that sound cannot travel in a vacuum, that magnetic forces can travel through a vacuum, and that light can travel through a vacuum. Boyle never married, and had no children. Boyle died of a severe stroke on December 31, 1691 at age 64. He was buried in a churchyard, but after redeveloping the remains were lost.