Boyle, Francis

The earliest information dealing with this phenomenon dates back to 600 B.c. It was found that a piece of amber after it had been rubbed was able to attract small fibers. More recent observations are from the 17th century, when William Gilbert noticed that amber, sulfur, and other dielectrics charged by friction could attract smoke. Similar observations were made by Boyle (1675) and Otto von Guericke (1672). Francis Hauksbee (1709) reported that he had discovered a phenomenon which is now called ionic wind or electric wind. Ionic wind and the glow from the corona discharge was discussed by Isaac Newton (1718). 

West, Muriel. Notes on the importance of alchemy to modem science in the writings of Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle. Ambix 9, no. 2 (Jun 1961) 102-114. 

Boyle and Christopher Wren. Their so-called Invisible College became the Royal Society in 1660, and the seal of Royal patronage meant that from now on, the prominence of alchemy would gradually diminish as research become ever more based in the empiricism championed by Francis Bacon and Descartes. 

See Muriel West, Notes on the Importance of Alchemy to Modern Science in the Writings of Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle, Ambix 9, 1961, 102-114 William R. Newman, Boyle s Debt to Corpuscular Alchemy, in Robert Boyle Reconsidered, ed. Hunter Lawrence M. Principe, Robert Boyle s Alchemical Secrecy Codes, Ciphers, and Concealments, Ambix 39, 1992, 63-74 idem, Boyle s alchemical pursuits, ibid., 91-105 idem, The Aspiring Adept-, Michael Hunter, Alchemy, Magic and Moralism in the Thought of Robert Boyle, British Journal for the History of Science 23, 1990, 387- 10. 

Boyle adopted the general philosophical approach to the study of nature espoused by Francis Bacon. People who followed Bacon s ideas about the study of nature tended to regard experiments as the most reliable route to knowledge and tried to be as objective about nature as possible. They also moved away from asking teleological question such as what the end purpose of matter might be. Instead, they tried to confine their questions to how nature functioned. 

Boyle, Robert. (1627-1691). A native of Ireland, Boyle devoted his life to experiments in what was then called natural philosophy, i.e., physical science. He was influenced early by Galileo. His interest aroused by a pump that had just been invented, Boyle studied the properties of air, on which he wrote a treatise (1660). Soon thereafter, he stated the famous law that bears his name (see following entry). Boyle s group of scientific enthusiasts was known as the invisible college , and in 1663 it became the Royal Society of London. Boyle was one of the first to apply the principle that Francis Bacon had described as the new method —namely, inductive experimentation as opposed to the deductive method of Aristotle—and this became and has remained the cornerstone of scientific research. Boyle also investigated hydrostatics, desalination of seawater, crystals, electricity, etc. He approached but never quite stated the atomic theory of matter however, he did distinguish between compounds and mixtures and conceived the idea of particles becoming associated to form molecules. 

For a description of the Summa s assaying tests, see Newman, Summa perfections, 769—776. For Bacon s similar definition of gold, see Francis Bacon, Sylva sylvarum in Bacon, Works, experiment 328, vol. 2, p. 450 see also Bacon, Novum organum, in Bacon, Works, aphorism 5, vol. 4, p. 122. For Boyle s definition, see Robert Boyle, the Origin of Forms and Qualities, in Michael Hunter and Edward B. Davis, The Works of Robert Boyle (London Pickering Chatto, 1999), 5 322—323. 

Rose-Mary Sargent, The Diffident Naturalist Robert Boyle and the Philosophy of Experiment (Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1995), 27—41, 50—53, 206—207, etpassim. See also Francis Bacon, Selected Philosophical Works, ed. Rose-Mary Sargent (Indianapolis Hackett, 1999), xxi—xxii, 208-209. 

R. E. W. Maddison, The Life of the Honourable Robert Boyle, F.R.S., Taylor and Francis, London, 1969, 89-132, for Boyle in Oxford. The influences of the older alchemical tradition on Boyle have been explored by several modern scholars see Principe, The Aspiring Adept (n. 7) Newman and Principe, Alchemy tried in the Fire (n. 7). 

---