Boyle, Robert

b. Jan. 25, 1627, Lismore, County Waterford, Ire.
d. Dec. 30, 1691, London, Eng.

Anglo-Irish chemist and natural philosopher noted for his pioneering experiments on the properties of gases and his espousal of a corpuscular view of matter that was a forerunner of the modern theory of chemical elements. He was a founding member of the Royal Society of London.

To the second edition of this work, in 1662, he appended his report of 1661 to the Royal Society on the relationship, now known as Boyle's law, that at a constant temperature the volume of a gas is inversely proportional to the pressure.