Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is now chiefly remembered as a pioneering chemical experimenter and champion of the empiricist approach to scientific enquiry. In his own eyes, however, he was first and foremost a promoter of Christian religion. His highly original and influential studies in natural philosophy were all undertaken with the express purpose of demonstrating, understanding and celebrating the operation of God in the created world. He also produced a substantial body of more explicitly religious writing which, for all its longueurs and digressions, remains of considerable interest.
Boyle was born at Lismore Castle, Munster, Ireland, on 25 January 1627, the fourteenth child of the immensely wealthy Richard Boyle, first earl of Cork and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, and his second
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Citation: Young, John. "Robert Boyle". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 December 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=522, accessed 27 November 2024.]
