Editing Scientific Revolution (section)

===Chemistry===
[[File:Sceptical chymist 1661 Boyle Title page AQ18 (3).jpg|upright=0.9|thumb|right|Title page from ''[[The Sceptical Chymist]]'', a foundational text of chemistry, written by Robert Boyle in 1661]]

[[Chemistry]], and its antecedent [[alchemy]], became an increasingly important aspect of scientific thought in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries. The importance of chemistry is indicated by the range of important scholars who actively engaged in chemical research. Among them were the astronomer [[Tycho Brahe]],<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1086/354267| title = Laboratory Design and the Aim of Science: Andreas Libavius versus Tycho Brahe| journal = Isis| volume = 77| issue = 4| pages = 585–610| year = 1986| last1 = Hannaway | first1 = O. | s2cid = 144538848}}</ref> the chemical physician [[Paracelsus]], [[Robert Boyle]], [[Thomas Browne]] and Isaac Newton. Unlike the mechanical philosophy, the chemical philosophy stressed the active powers of matter, which alchemists frequently expressed in terms of vital or active principles—of spirits operating in nature.<ref>Westfall, Richard S. (1983) ''Never at Rest''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-27435-4}}. pp. 18–23.</ref>

Practical attempts to improve the refining of ores and their extraction to [[Smelting|smelt]] metals were an important source of information for early chemists in the 16th century, among them [[Georgius Agricola]], who published his great work ''[[De re metallica]]'' in 1556.<ref>[http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/exhibit/agricola.htm Agricola, Georg (1494–1555)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123032301/http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/exhibit/agricola.htm |date=23 November 2008 }}. Scs.uiuc.edu. Retrieved on 26 September 2011.</ref> His work describes the highly developed and complex processes of mining metal ores, metal extraction and metallurgy of the time. His approach removed the mysticism associated with the subject, creating the practical base upon which others could build.<ref>[[Karl Alfred von Zittel|von Zittel, Karl Alfred]] (1901) ''History of Geology and Palaeontology'', p. 15</ref>

Chemist [[Robert Boyle]] is considered to have refined the modern scientific method for alchemy and to have separated chemistry further from alchemy.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131203073012/http://understandingscience.ucc.ie/pages/sci_robertboyle.htm Robert Boyle]. understandingscience.ucc.ie</ref> Although his research clearly has its roots in the alchemical tradition, Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. Although Boyle was not the original discoverer, he is best known for [[Boyle's law]], which he presented in 1662:<ref name=acottLaw>{{cite journal |author=Acott, Chris |title=The diving "Law-ers": A brief resume of their lives. |journal=[[South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |year=1999 |issn=0813-1988 |oclc=16986801 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/5990 |access-date=17 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402073203/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/5990 |archive-date=2 April 2011 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> the law describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a [[closed system]].<ref>Levine, Ira. N (1978). "Physical Chemistry" University of Brooklyn: [[McGraw-Hill]].  p. 12</ref>

Boyle is also credited for his landmark publication ''[[The Sceptical Chymist]]'' in 1661, which is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry. In the work, Boyle presents his hypothesis that every phenomenon was the result of collisions of particles in motion. Boyle appealed to chemists to experiment and asserted that experiments denied the limiting of chemical elements to only the classic four: earth, fire, air, and water. He also pleaded that chemistry should cease to be subservient to medicine or to alchemy, and rise to the status of a science. Importantly, he advocated a rigorous approach to scientific experiment: he believed all theories must be tested experimentally before being regarded as true. The work contains some of the earliest modern ideas of [[atom]]s, [[molecule]]s, and [[chemical reaction]], and marks the beginning of modern chemistry.