Philosophy 22N Spring, 2004 G. J. Mattey Robert Boyle Philosophy 22N Spring, 2004 G. J. Mattey

Vital Statistics Born, 1627, Ireland Died, 1691, London Single Son of the first Earl of Cork Founding member of the Royal Society

Important Events Early years-1639, educated at Eton 1639-1644, grand tour of Europe, had religious conversion experience 1644, settled at Stalbridge in Dorset 1649, set up home laboratory and commenced experiments 1655, moved to Oxford and joined a circle of natural philosophers 1657, began experiments with air pump

Important events (cont.) 1660, helped found the Royal Society, published first results on experiments with air pump with which he was assisted by Hooke 1662, established “Boyle’s Law,” relating the volume of a gas to its pressure (under constant temperature) 1668, moved to London 1668-91, published many books 1692, first Boyle Lectures by Richard Bentley