Downing , Lisa , " Robert Boyle , " in A Companion to Early Modern

I. Life and works Robert Boyle, natural philosopher, was born in 1627 to Richard Boyle and Katherine Fenton. Despite Robert Boyle's status as youngest son of a large family, his father's wealth, influence, and title (first Earl of Cork) afforded him an income and allowed him to devote himself to intellectual pursuits. The young Boyle's education included Eton and private tutoring (both at home and on the continent). From 1645-55, he made his home in a family manor at Stalbridge in Dorset. There he suffered serious illnesses which left him with a delicate constitution and weak vision (as a result of which all his later publications were dictated to amanuenses). There also a new enthusiasm for experiment (both for its own sake and as a route to religious understanding) turned his attention away from his early ethical writings and towards scientific pursuits. His scientific interests drew him to Oxford, where he assembled a laboratory and became associated with an intellectual/social circle which included many prominent or rising figures in British natural philosophy such as John Wallis, Robert Hooke, and Christopher Wren. Members of this group worked towards founding the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, the first modern scientific society, which promulgated the virtues of experimentalism and helped to solidify the successes of the new science. In 1668, Boyle moved to London, where he took up rooms in the home of his sister, Katherine, Lady Ranelagh. Again he established a laboratory. He also played a role in public life, most prominently in the Royal Society but also in the Society for the Spread of the Gospel in New England. He died in 1691, within a few days of his sister. In his will, he funded a series of sermons, the Boyle Lectures, which were intended, in his words, " for proving the Christian Religion against notorious Infidels, viz. Atheists, Theists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans, not descending lower to any controversies, that are among Christians themselves " (Boyle 1772, vol. 1, p. clxvii). Boyle published prolifically throughout much of his life, but most notably around the 1660's, during which time much of his earlier work came to fruition. He wrote mainly in the areas of theoretical natural philosophy, experimental natural philosophy, scientific methodology, and natural theology. Each of these areas is discussed below, with Boyle's corpuscularian theory receiving special emphasis. Some of Boyle's most influential individual publications …