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History buffs might remember Robert Boyle as the scientist who gave his name to Boyle's law-abiding a natural law that sets out the connection between pressure and volume in gases. His momentous discovery laid the basis for countless scientific developments that followed. But Robert Boyle was more than an able man of science.
A man of science
Boyle has been described as a father of chemistry. He took a completely different approach from that of the alchemists of his day. Instead of simply accepting long-held hypothesis, he championed the use of controlled experiments to establish the facts.
Boyle's experiments supported the idea that matter was composed of what he called corpuscle, particles of some kind, that combined in different substances.
Boyle's approach to scientific research is summed up well in his famous book The Sceptical Chymist.
A man of faith
Boyle took the same approach when it came to spiritual matters. What he discovered about the universe and the marvelous construction of living creatures convinced him that there must be a designer and a creator.
Boyle did not think that human reason alone was the way to true enlightenment. He saw the need for some kind of revelation from God. That revelation he said, was God's Word, the Bible.
To this end, Boyle gave money to support the publishing of the Bible in many languages. Robert Boyle thus proved himself to be a gifted yet humble man with an insatiable desire to find truth in all matters and to help others do the same.