Editing Charles II of England (section)

== Science ==
[[File:King Charles II of England (1630-1685).TIF|thumb|Portrait by [[John Riley (painter, born 1646)|John Riley]], {{Circa|1683–1684}}|alt=Oil portrait of Charles with heavy jowls, a wig of long black curls and in a suit of armour]]
In Charles's early childhood, [[William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle]], was governor of the royal household and Brian Duppa, the [[Dean of Christ Church, Oxford]], was his tutor.{{Sfn|Airy|1904|p=7}} Neither man thought that the study of science subjects was appropriate for a future king,<ref>{{Harvnb|Uglow|2009|p=220}}; {{Harvnb|Fraser|1979|p=23}}</ref> and Newcastle even advised against studying any subject too seriously.<ref>{{Harvnb|Falkus|1972|p=17}}; {{Harvnb|Airy|1904|p=9}}</ref> However, as Charles grew older, the surgeon [[William Harvey]] was appointed his tutor.{{Sfn|Airy|1904|p=7}}<ref name="Carvalho">{{Cite journal |last1=Carvalho |first1=Cristina |title=Charles II: A Man Caught Between Tradition and Science |journal=Via Panorâmica |date=2014 |volume=3 |pages=5–24 |hdl=10400.26/7191 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> He was famous for his work on blood circulation in the human body and already held the position of physician to Charles I; his studies were to influence Charles's own attitude to science. As the king's chief physician, Harvey accompanied Charles I to the [[Battle of Edgehill]] and, although some details are uncertain,{{Sfn|Airy|1904|p=15}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stewart |first1=D |title=Harvey and the Battle of Edgehill |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |date=October 1946 |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=405 |pmid=20323936 |pmc=1583020}}; {{cite book|last=Young|first=P.|title=Edgehill 1642|publisher=Windrush Press|location=Gloucester|year=1995|page=144}}</ref> he had charge of Prince Charles and the Duke of York in the morning,{{Sfn|Fraser|1979|p=36}} but the two boys were back with the king for the start of battle.{{sfn|Scott|Turton|von Arni|2004|p=79}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=D. |title=Harvey and the Battle of Edgehill |journal=British Medical Journal| date=25 May 1946 |volume=1 |issue=4455 |page=808 |pmc=2058941 |jstor=20366436 |doi=10.1136/bmj.1.4455.808}}</ref> Later in the afternoon, with their father concerned for their safety, the two princes left the battlefield accompanied by Sir W. Howard and his pensioners.{{sfn|Scott|Turton|von Arni|2004|p=130}}

During his exile, in France, Charles continued his education, including physics, chemistry and mathematics.{{Sfn|Uglow|2009|p=220}} His tutors included the cleric [[John Earle (bishop)|John Earle]], well known for his satirical book ''Microcosmographie'', with whom he studied Latin and Greek, and [[Thomas Hobbes]], the philosopher and author of ''Leviathan'', with whom he studied mathematics.<ref>{{cite web|title=Thomas Hobbes (1588–1697)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/hobbes_thomas.shtml|publisher=BBC|date=2014}}</ref> In France, Charles assisted his childhood friend, the [[Earl of Buckingham]], with his experiments in [[chemistry]] and [[alchemy]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Hanrahan|2006|p=25}}; {{Harvnb|Burnet|1847|p=182}}</ref> with the Earl convinced he was close to producing the [[philosopher's stone]]. Although some of Charles's studies, while abroad, may have helped to pass the time,{{Sfn|Falkus|1972|p=30}} on his return to England he was already knowledgeable in the mathematics of navigation and was a competent chemist.<ref>{{Harvnb|Uglow|2009|p=220}}; {{Harvnb|Burnet|1847|p=167}}</ref> Such was his knowledge of naval architecture that he was able to participate in technical discussions on the subject with [[Samuel Pepys]], [[William Petty]] and [[John Evelyn]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Burnet|1847|p=167}}; {{Harvnb|Airy|1904|p=198}}</ref>

The new concepts and discoveries being found at this time fascinated Charles,{{Sfn|Hanrahan|2006|p=25}} not only in science and medicine, but in topics such as botany and gardening.<ref name="Carvalho" />{{Sfn|Falkus|1972|p=82}} A French traveller, Sorbier, while visiting the English court, was astonished by the extent of the king's knowledge.{{Sfn|Falkus|1972|p=209}} The king freely indulged in his many interests, including astronomy, which had been stimulated by a visit to [[Gresham College]], in October 1660, to see the telescopes made by the astronomer [[Sir Paul Neile]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jardine |first=L. |title=On a Grander Scale |publisher=Harper Collins |location=London |date=2002 |page=166}}; {{cite web |last=Hartlib |first=S. |title=Letter: Hartlib to John Worthington |url=https://www.dhi.ac.uk/hartlib/view?docset=additional?docname=WORTH_17@term0=transtext_gresham#highlight}} (search for 15 October 1660)</ref> Charles was so impressed by what he saw that he ordered his own 36' telescope, which he had installed in the Privy Garden at [[Whitehall]].<ref name="Wright2000">{{Cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=David |title=The astronomy in Pepys' Diary |journal=Astronomy & Geophysics |date=August 2000 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=4.23–4.27 |doi=10.1046/j.1468-4004.2000.00423.x |s2cid=122377967 |doi-access=free}}</ref> He would invite his friends and acquaintances to view the heavens through his new telescope and, in May 1661, Evelyn describes his visit to the Garden, with several other scientists, to view [[Saturn's rings]].{{Sfn|Evelyn|1952|p=357}} Charles also had a laboratory installed in Whitehall, within easy access to his bedroom.{{Sfn|Pepys|1906b|p=611}}<ref name="Wright2000" /><ref name="Ashley">{{cite book|last=Ashley|first=M.|title=England in the Seventeenth Century|publisher=Penguin|location=London|year=1958|pages=153–154}}</ref>

From the beginning of his reign, Charles appointed experts to assist him in his scientific pursuits. These included: [[Timothy Clarke]], a celebrated anatomist, who performed some dissections for the king;{{Sfn|Pepys|1906a|p=365}} [[Robert Morison]] as his chief botanist (Charles had his own botanical garden);{{Sfn|Falkus|1972|p=82}} [[Edmund Dickinson]], a chemist and alchemist, who was tasked with carrying out experiments in the king's laboratory;<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Dickinson, Edmund | volume= 15 |last= Harrison |first= Robert |author-link= |pages = 33-34 |short=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Blomberg |first=W. N. |title=An Account of the Life and Writings of Edmund Dickinson |publisher=Montagu |location=London |date=1739 |page=89 |url=https://archive.org/details/b30549085/page/n7/mode/2up}}</ref> [[Sir Thomas Williams, 1st Baronet|Sir Thomas Williams]], who was skillful in compounding and inventing medicines, some of which were prepared in the royal presence;{{Sfn|Bruce|1890|p=96}} and [[Nicasius le Febure]] (or Nicolas LeFevre), who was invited to England as royal professor of chemistry and apothecary to the king's household.<ref>{{cite web |title=LeFevre N. |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/le-febvre-nicaise}}</ref> Evelyn visited his laboratory with the king.{{Sfn|Evelyn|1952|p=376}}

In addition to his many other interests, the king was fascinated by clock mechanisms<ref name="Carvalho" /> and had clocks distributed all around Whitehall, including seven of them in his bedroom.{{Sfn|Uglow|2009|p=221}} [[Robert Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury|Robert Bruce]] (later Earl of Ailesbury), a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, complained that the continual noise of the clocks chiming disturbed his sleep, whenever it was necessary for him to stay close by to the king.{{Sfn|Bruce|1890|p=87}} Also, Charles had a sundial installed in the Privy Garden,{{Sfn|Uglow|2009|p=228}} by which he could set his personal [[pocket watch]].{{Sfn|Fraser|1979|p=250}} (For a while, the king personally recorded the performance of the latest spring-balance watch, presented to him by [[Robert Hooke]].{{sfn|Jardine|2004|p=202}})
[[File:British School, 17th century - Charles II (^) leaving Hampton Court - RCIN 402006 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|Charles leaving [[Hampton Court Palace]]]]
In 1662, Charles was pleased to grant a royal charter to a group of scientists and others who had established a formal society in 1660 to give a more academic and learned approach to science and to conduct experiments in physics and mathematics.<ref name="Ashley" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Purver|first=M.|title=The Royal Society, Concept and Creation|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|location=London|year=1967|pages=21, 85, 189}}</ref> [[Sir Robert Moray]], a member of Charles's court, played an important part in achieving this outcome, and he was to be the first president of this new [[Royal Society]]. Over the years, Moray was an important go-between for Charles and the Society,{{Sfn|Fraser|1979|p=251}} and his standing with the king was so high that he was given access to the royal laboratory to perform his own experiments there.<ref>{{Harvnb|Burnet|1847|p=167}}; {{Harvnb|Airy|1904|p=198}}; {{Harvnb|Uglow|2009|p=228}}</ref>

Charles never attended a Society meeting,{{Sfn|Jardine|2004|p=106}} but he remained aware of the activities there from his discussions with Society members, especially Moray.{{Sfn|Uglow|2009|p=228}} In addition, [[Robert Boyle]] gave him a private viewing of the Boyle/Hooke [[air-pump]],<ref name="West">{{Cite journal |last1=West |first1=John B. |title=Robert Boyle's landmark book of 1660 with the first experiments on rarified air |journal=Journal of Applied Physiology |date=January 2005 |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=31–39 |doi=10.1152/japplphysiol.00759.2004 |pmid=15591301 |s2cid=5837786}}</ref><ref name="Nichols">{{cite book |last=Nichols |first=R. |title=Robert Hooke and the Royal Society |publisher=Book Guild |location=Sussex, England |date=1999 |page=43}}</ref> which was used at many of the Wednesday meetings. However, Charles preferred experiments that had an immediate practical outcome{{Sfn|Fraser|1979|p=250}} and he laughed at the efforts of the Society members "to weigh air".{{Sfn|Pepys|1906a|p=451}} He seemed unable to grasp the significance of the basic laws of physics being established at that time, including [[Boyle's law]] and [[Hooke's law]] and the concept of atmospheric pressure<ref name="West" /> and the [[barometer]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=West |first1=John B. |title=Torricelli and the Ocean of Air: The First Measurement of Barometric Pressure |journal=Physiology |date=March 2013 |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=66–73 |doi=10.1152/physiol.00053.2012 |pmid=23455767 |pmc=3768090}}</ref> and the importance of air for the support of life.<ref name="Nichols" />

Although Charles lost interest in the activities of the society, he continued to support scientific and commercial endeavours. He founded the Mathematical School at [[Christ's Hospital]] in 1673 and, two years later, following concerns over French advances in astronomy, he founded the [[Royal Observatory, Greenwich|Royal Observatory]] at Greenwich.{{Sfn|Uglow|2009|pp=241–242}} He maintained an interest in chemistry and regularly visited his private laboratory.<ref name="Wright2000" /><ref name="Ashley" /> There, dissections observed by the king were occasionally carried out.{{Sfn|Uglow|2009|p=221}} Pepys noted in his diary that on the morning of Friday, 15 January 1669, while he was walking to Whitehall, he met the king, who invited him to view his chemistry laboratory. Pepys confessed to finding what he saw there beyond him.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pepys |first=Samuel|work=The Diary of Samuel Pepys|title=Friday 15 January 1668/69|date=15 January 2012 |url=https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1669/01/15/}}</ref>

Charles developed painful gout in later life which limited the daily walks that he took regularly when younger. His keenness was now channelled to his laboratory where he would devote himself to his experiments for hours at a time,<ref>{{cite book|last=Wheatley |first=H. B. |title=Samuel Pepys and the World he Lived In |publisher=Swan Sonnenschein & Co. |location=London |date=1907 |edition=1st |orig-date=1880 |page=167 |url=https://archive.org/details/samuelpepysandth51757gut}}</ref>{{Sfn|Fraser|1979|p=586}} sometimes helped by Moray.{{Sfn|Airy|1904|p=198}} Charles was particularly interested in alchemy, which he had first encountered many years earlier during his exile with the Duke of Buckingham. Charles resumed his experiments with mercury and would spend whole mornings attempting to distill it. Heating mercury in an open crucible releases mercury vapour, which is toxic and may have contributed to his later ill health.{{Sfn|Fraser|1979|pp=567–596}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Homes|first=F.|title=The Sickly Stewarts|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=2003|pages=104–108}}</ref>