Boyle is considered by many as the father of modern chemisty. He offered the first accurate definitions of elements and chemical reactions, is credited with pioneering modern scientific method, and also formulated the law that bears his name which describes the relationship between pressure and volume in gases.

For centuries people believed that everything was made of just three or four substances, which were mistakenly called elements . It was Boyle who first set science on the right track and asserted the true nature of elements and compounds.

Boyle's father was an Englishman who made his fortune in Ireland and became a successful landowner there. Boyle was his seventh son and the youngest of fourteen children. By the time Boyle was born, his father had become an earl and was one of the wealthiest men in the country. Like his father, Boyle was an industrious worker; before he entered...