Scientist

Robert Boyle was born at Lismore Castle on the 25th January 1627. He was the 7th son and 14th child of Sir Richard Boyle, the Great Earl of Cork, and his second wife Catherine Fenton.

Lismore Castle, where little Robert spent his childhood, had been bought from Sir Walter Raleigh by his father and virtually rebuilt. He saw little of his parents, for his mother died and his father was frequently absent on business. Life at Lismore was not without excitement. At the age of three he was nearly drowned, when the horse on which he was being carried, fell while crossing a rain - swollen stream; and at the age of seven he was nearly crushed when his bedroom ceiling collapsed.

At the tender age of eight, Robert was sent off to school in Eton, and when he was eleven he was dispatched on the Grand Tour to France, Switzerland and Italy. In 1643 his father died leaving him the Manor of Stalbridge in Dorsetshire. Robert settled there and devoted the rest of his life to scientific research. In 1654 he moved to Oxford and on 1668 to London, where he lived in celibate bliss with his sister Lady Ranelagh. In appearance he was tall and slender and emaciated. Abstemious in everything except work, he suffered from chronic ill - health. In character he is described as brilliant in conversation, benevolent and tolerant.

Robert and his scientific friends formed what they called the Invisible Society. At the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 King Charles 2nd, (Who was avidly interested in science) transformed this group into the Royal Society. During the next thirty years Boyle wrote over eighty works. His contribution to science is outstanding. His reputation rests on the law that bears his name, which states that the volume of gas varies intensely with its pressure. But he also exerted and important influence over the Scientists of his day by his insistence that it is no use having a theory unless you verify it by experiment. Issac Newton was his contemporary and friend.

Boyle was intensely pious and wrote a number of theological works. He also financed the printing of the first complete bible in the Irish language. He died in London on 30th December 1691.

An animated film can be seen in the heritage centre. This is of particular interest to those who wish to learn of his boyhood in Lismore and how his interest in nature & science came about.