Boyle’s Law: the pressure of a fixed amount of gas is inversely proportional to its volume.
Robert Boyle, born in 1627, is known as one of the founders of modern chemistry and one of the pioneers of the modern experimental scientific method. He was born the fourteenth of fifteen children to Robert Boyle, the First Earl of Cork, in Ireland. Despite having the advantages of great wealth, Robert’s father saw fit to ensure his children understood the value of education and hard work, so he was sent to live with a peasant family for a number of his childhood years. It was likely during these years that, at age 13, young Robert awoke with a start to a loud clap of thunder, the beginning of a fierce storm. He later wrote that it was that storm which compelled him to think of the torments of an eternity apart from God, and he committed his life to Christ at that young age.
At age 17, young Robert with a brother was on an extended tour of Europe. Already with an intense interest in science, he visited many eminent scientists of his day. He was actually en route to visit the great Galileo in Italy when Galileo died. Despite that, he was able to visit and study in many of the great centers of learning in his day.
His studies and influences during that trip had a profound impact on his thinking. In this day, scientific study existed mainly in repeating what ‘authorities’ had previously declared to be true. Since Aristotle had declared that a true vacuum could not exist, it was accepted as fact. Robert asked questions like, “How did Aristotle know this?” He wanted to be shown, not just be taught. As a result, he invented devices with which to experiment to see these laws in action, or to disprove them.
During this trip, an uprising in Ireland broke out and Robert’s father had to spend all his available resources in defending his land and could no longer support his children in their travels. His father and at least one brother died as a result of that war. Robert had to end up working and selling his own valuables to pay for his tutor as long as possible, but when he sold the last of his available goods, he used the money to travel home. Robert stayed with a recently widowed sister and spent a great deal of effort to back on his feet, with the little inheritance he received.
Robert’s intellect, though still a young man, got the attention of a group of scholars in Oxford University. He joined an underground group of scientists who called themselves the “Invisible College” – so named due to the fact that they had no formal structure or organization. Like Robert, many of these scientists were devout Christians and sought to encourage each other in understanding the universe bequeathed to them by God. While he never received a degree or a professorship, his acumen and reputation elevated him to the greatest scientists in England in his day. He separated the science of Chemistry away from the witchcraft of Alchemy.
Boyle believed that God designed nature to work according to certain natural laws, a reflection of His purposeful design. A scientist’s duty, then, is to discover these laws and use them for the betterment of mankind and, more importantly, to shine a spotlight on the Creator of the Universe. Later scientists, even to this day, use the laws of nature to remove God from the universe, but to Boyle and his colleagues in the Invisible College, it was the exact opposite.
A student of the Bible, as well as science, Robert learned Greek, Cyriac, and Hebrew so he could read the Bible in its original languages. Any conflict between the Bible and science, he explained, existed only because of a mistake in the science or an incorrect interpretation of the Scripture.
Robert Boyle’s whole life, including his scientific work, existed to glorify God. He produced many theological writings, including works on Divine love, the evils of swearing, ethics, the study of theology, and the style of Scripture. He even wrote a Christian novel, called the Martyrdom of Theodora and Didymus. He supported numerous missionary works throughout the reaches of the British Empire, including in the American colonies, and in his will established a series of lectures defending the Christian faith from those who would detract from it. Mostly, though, in the great scientist Robert Boyle, we have an unflinching testimony of a humble man who sought to serve and discover His Creator – and to make Him known to the world.
Quotes from Robert Boyle:
“Is it wise to dispute anxiously about the properties of an atom, and be careless about the enquiry into the attributes of the great God, who formed all things?”
“I am not a Christian, because it is the religion of my country and my friends. When I choose to travel the beaten road, it is not because I find it is the road, but because I judge it is the way.”
“From a knowledge of His work, we shall know Him.”
https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/robert-boyle-father-of-modern-chemistry-11630103.html
https://crev.info/scientists/robert-boyle/
https://www.icr.org/article/science-man-god-robert-boyle/
