Editing Robert Boyle (section)

===Middle years===
[[File:Templeofrosycross.png|alt=Emblematic image of a Rosicrucian College; illustration from Speculum sophicum Rhodo-stauroticum, a 1618 work by Theophilus Schweighardt. Frances Yates identifies this as the "Invisible College of the Rosy Cross. Robert Boyle was a member of this association.|thumb|Emblematic image of a [[Rosicrucian]] College; illustration from ''Speculum sophicum Rhodo-stauroticum'', a 1618 work by [[Theophilus Schweighardt]]. [[Frances Yates]] identifies this as the "Invisible College of the Rosy Cross.  Robert Boyle was a member of this association. ]]
Robert returned to England from [[continental Europe]] in mid-1644 with a keen interest in scientific research.<ref>See biographies of Robert Boyle at [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=522], {{cite web |title=Robert Boyle |url=http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/ci/1992/Boyle.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516022301/http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/ci/1992/Boyle.html |archive-date=16 May 2008 |access-date=6 May 2008}}, {{cite web |title=Boyle summary |url=http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Boyle.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413025044/http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Boyle.html |archive-date=13 April 2008 |access-date=6 May 2008}} and [https://books.google.com/books?id=fjDXtalPeesC&pg=PT24].</ref> His father, [[Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork|Lord Cork]], had died the previous year and had left him the manor of [[Stalbridge]] in Dorset as well as substantial estates in [[County Limerick]] in Ireland that he had acquired. Robert then made his residence at [[Stalbridge#Stalbridge House|Stalbridge House]], between 1644 and 1652, and settled in a laboratory where he conducted many experiments.<ref>{{Cite web|year=2014|title=BBC - History - Robert Boyle|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/boyle_robert.shtml|access-date=26 September 2021|website=[[BBC Online]]}}</ref> From that time, Robert devoted his life to [[science|scientific]] research and soon took a prominent place in the band of enquirers, known as the "[[Invisible College]]", who devoted themselves to the cultivation of the "new philosophy". They met frequently in London, often at [[Gresham College]], and some of the members also had meetings at [[Oxford]].<ref name="EB1911" />
Having made several visits to his Irish estates beginning in 1647, Robert moved to Ireland in 1652 but became frustrated at his inability to make progress in his chemical work. In one letter, he described Ireland as "a barbarous country where chemical spirits were so misunderstood and chemical instruments so unprocurable that it was hard to have any Hermetic thoughts in it."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Silver|first1=Brian L.|title=The ascent of science|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-513427-8|page=114}}</ref>
[[File:All Souls College, Oxford - geograph.org.uk - 3247461.jpg|alt=Boyle's arm displayed in the Great Quadrangle of All Souls College, Oxford|thumb|Boyle's arms (shown on the right right) displayed in the Great Quadrangle of All Souls College, Oxford]]
[[All Souls College, Oxford|All Souls]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]], shows the arms of Boyle's family in the colonnade of the Great Quadrangle, opposite the arms of the [[Rowland Hill (MP)|Hill]] family of [[Shropshire]], close by a sundial designed by Boyle's friend [[Christopher Wren]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=History of Science Museum Oxford University |title=The Virtual Oxford Science Walk |url=https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/features/walk/loc5.htm |archive-url=}}</ref>

In 1654, Boyle left Ireland for Oxford to pursue his work more successfully. An inscription can be found on the wall of [[University College, Oxford]], the [[High Street, Oxford|High Street]] at [[Oxford]] (now the location of the [[Shelley Memorial]]), marking the spot where Cross Hall stood until the early 19th century. It was here that Boyle rented rooms from the wealthy apothecary who owned the Hall.

Reading in 1657 of [[Otto von Guericke]]'s [[vacuum pump]], he set himself, with the assistance of [[Robert Hooke]], to devise improvements in its construction. His "machina Boyleana" or "Pneumatical Engine" was finished in 1659.

Among the critics of the views put forward in this book was a [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]], [[Francis Line]] (1595–1675), and it was while answering his objections that Boyle made his first mention of [[Boyle's law|the law]] that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas, which among English-speaking people is usually called ''Boyle's law'', after his name.<ref name=EB1911/> The person who originally formulated the hypothesis was [[Henry Power]] in 1661. Boyle in 1662 included a reference to a paper written by Power, but mistakenly attributed it to [[Richard Towneley]]. In continental Europe, the hypothesis is sometimes attributed to [[Edme Mariotte]], although he did not publish it until 1676 and was probably aware of Boyle's work at the time.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Brush
  | first = Stephen G.
  | title = The Kinetic Theory of Gases: An Anthology of Classic Papers with Historical Commentary
  | publisher = [[Imperial College Press]]
  | series = History of Modern Physical Sciences Vol 1
  | year = 2003
  | isbn = 978-1860943478
  }}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Royal Society - Robert Boyle notebook.jpg|thumb|right|One of Robert Boyle's notebooks (1690–1691) held by the [[Royal Society]] of London. The Royal Society archives holds 46 volumes of philosophical, scientific and theological papers by Boyle and seven volumes of his correspondence.]]

In 1663 the Invisible College became [[The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge]], and the charter of incorporation granted by [[Charles II of England]] named Boyle a member of the council. In 1680 he was elected president of the society but declined the honour from a scruple about oaths.<ref name=EB1911/>

He made a "wish list" of 24 possible [[invention]]s which included "the [[life extension|prolongation of life]]", the "[[mechanical flight|art of flying]]", "[[artificial light|perpetual light]]", "making armour light and extremely hard", "a ship to sail with all winds, and a ship [[compartment (ship)|not to be sunk]]", "practicable and certain way of finding [[longitude#Determination|longitude]]s", "potent drugs to alter or exalt imagination, waking, memory and other functions and [[analgesic|appease pain]], procure [[hypnotic|innocent sleep]], harmless dreams, etc.". All but a few of the 24 have come true.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7798012/Robert-Boyles-prophetic-scientific-predictions-from-the-17th-century-go-on-display-at-the-Royal-Society.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7798012/Robert-Boyles-prophetic-scientific-predictions-from-the-17th-century-go-on-display-at-the-Royal-Society.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Robert Boyle's prophetic scientific predictions from the 17th century go on display at the Royal Society|date=3 June 2010|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=24 February 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Robert Boyle's Wish list|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7798201/Robert-Boyles-Wish-list.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7798201/Robert-Boyles-Wish-list.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=11 October 2016|work=Telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | audio1 = [https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/podcast/the-almost-forgotten-story-of-katherine-jones-lady-ranelagh “The Almost Forgotten Story of Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh”], ''Distillations'' Podcast, [[Science History Institute]]}}

In 1668 he left Oxford for [[London]] where he resided at the house of his elder sister [[Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh|Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh]], in [[Pall Mall, London|Pall Mall]].<ref name=EB1911/> He experimented in the laboratory she had in her home and attended her salon of intellectuals interested in the sciences. The siblings maintained "a lifelong intellectual partnership, where brother and sister shared medical remedies, promoted each other's scientific ideas, and edited each other's manuscripts."<ref name=chf>{{cite web |url= http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/such_a_sister_became_such_a_brother_lady_ranelaghs_influence_on_robert_boyl/ |title= 'Such a Sister Became Such a Brother': Lady Ranelagh's Influence on Robert Boyle |first= Michelle |last= DiMeo |date= 4 February 2014 |access-date= 5 February 2014 |publisher= Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science |archive-date= 2 December 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161202040430/http://www.pachs.net/events/archive/such_a_sister_became_such_a_brother_lady_ranelaghs_influence_on_robert_boyl/ |url-status= dead }}</ref> His contemporaries widely acknowledged Katherine's influence on his work, but later historiographers dropped discussion of her accomplishments and relationship to her brother from their histories.