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Robert Boyle Facts & Worksheets

Robert Boyle, FRS (Fellowship of the Royal Society) was a philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor that was based in Anglo-Ireland.

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Robert Boyle, FRS (Fellowship of the Royal Society) was a philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor that was based in Anglo-Ireland. Boyle is today widely regarded as the first modern chemist, one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern scientific experimental method.

See the fact file below for more information on the Robert Boyle or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Robert Boyle worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

BIOGRAPHY

  • Robert Boyle was born on January 25, 1627 at Lismore Castle, County Waterford, Ireland.
  • He was born into one of Britain’s richest families. He was the 14th child and the 7th son of the first Earl of Cork, Richard Boyle by his second wife, Catherine, the daughter of Ireland’s Secretary of State Sir Geoffrey Fenton.
  • In his childhood, he was sent to live with a poor family in Ireland. His father wanted his children to spend their early years this way, claiming that it made them stronger. In this time, Robert developed a stutter.
  • Robert’s mother died when he was only two years old, and he never knew her. Some time after his mother died, he returned to his family home, where he was tutored in French and Latin.

ETON COLLEGE

  • Boyle was sent to England’s most prestigious private school, Eton College, at the age of eight where he spent three years of studies.
  • At 12, he and his older brother Francis and a mentor embarked on a long tour of Europe.
  • This ‘Grand Tour’ has been a typical part of the education of many rich people, often including trips to Italy and Greece’s great classical sites.
  • He moved to Italy at the age of 14, where he studied how Galileo Galilei used maths to describe motion. Boyle was delighted by this and started studying the work of Galileo.

CAREER

  • Boyle spent much of 1652–54 administering his ancestral lands in Ireland and also performing some anatomical dissections. In 1654, he was invited to Oxford and from c. 1656 to 1668, he took up residence at the university.
  • He was introduced to the latest developments in natural philosophy in Oxford and became affiliated with a group of notable natural philosophers and physicists including John Wilkins, Christopher Wren, and John Locke. Together with a few others, these individuals founded the “Experimental Philosophy Club,” which periodically met in Boyle’s lodgings.
  • In 1659, Boyle and Robert Hooke designed an air pump to help Boyle research air pressure and vacuum, and a year later, he published ‘New Physico-Mechanical Experiments, Touching the Air Spring and Its Effects’.

BOYLE’S LAW

  • One of their observations, published in 1662, later became known as “Boyle’s Law.” This law describes the reciprocal relationship that exists between a gas’ pressure and volume.
  • It was determined by measuring the volume that was filled with a constant amount of air when compressed by different weights of mercury.
  • Similar findings about the air were documented at the same time by other natural philosophers including Henry Power and Richard Towneley.
  • The scientific work of Boyle is distinguished by its emphasis on experimentation and observation and its inability to formulate widespread theories.
  • He promoted a “mechanical theory” that regarded the world as a huge machine or clock in which all natural phenomena were accountable solely by mechanical, clockwork movements.

ROYAL SOCIETY

  • Boyle left Oxford in 1668 with his sister Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh and took up residence in his sister’s house on Pall Mall in London.
  • He founded an active laboratory there, employed assistants, received visitors, and published at least one book each year. He also had the opportunity to participate actively in the Royal Society while he lived in London.
  • Boyle was a brilliant man who during his lifetime achieved national and international renown.

ANNUAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • 1660. New Experiments Physico-Mechanical: Touching the Spring of the Air and their Effects
  • 1661. The Skeptical Chymist
  • 1663. Considerations contacting the Usefulness of Experimental Natural Philosophy (trailed by a second part in 1671)
  • 1664. Experiments and Considerations Touching Colors, with Observations on a Diamond that Shines in the Dark
  • 1665. New Experiments and Observations upon Cold
  • 1666. Hydrostatical Paradoxes
  • 1666. Origin of Forms and Qualities as indicated by the Corpuscular Philosophy
  • 1669. A continuation of his work on the spring of air
  • 1670. Tracts about the Cosmical Qualities of Things, the Temperature of the Subterranean and Submarine Regions, the Bottom of the Sea, & c. with an Introduction to the History of Particular Qualities
  • 1672. Origin and Virtues of Gems
  • 1673. Essays of the Strange Subtilty, Great Efficacy, Determinate Nature of Effluvium
  • 1676. Experiments and Notes about the Mechanical Origin or Production of Particular Qualities, remembering a few notes for power and attraction
  • 1678. Observations upon a counterfeit Substance that Shines with no Preceding Illustration
  • 1680. The Aerial Noctiluca

Robert Boyle Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Robert Boyle across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Robert Boyle worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Robert Boyle, FRS (Fellowship of the Royal Society) who was a philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor that was based in Anglo-Ireland. Boyle is today widely regarded as the first modern chemist, one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern scientific experimental method.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Robert Boyle Facts
  • Natural Philosopher
  • What’s True?
  • Royalty
  • Take Me Home
  • Boyle’s Law
  • Powerful Scientist
  • Word Hunt
  • Robert’s Timeline
  • Dream Come True
  • Job Well Done

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Use With Any Curriculum

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