Robert Boyle
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Robert Boyle, a pioneering scientist and one of the first Fellows of the Royal Society.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Robert Boyle, a pioneering scientist and a founder member of the Royal Society. Born in Ireland in 1627, Boyle was one of the first natural philosophers to conduct rigorous experiments, laid the foundations of modern chemistry and derived Boyle's Law, describing the physical properties of gases. In addition to his experimental work he left a substantial body of writings about philosophy and religion; his piety was one of the most important factors in his intellectual activities, prompting a celebrated dispute with his contemporary Thomas Hobbes.
With:
Simon Schaffer
Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge
Michael Hunter
Emeritus Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London
Anna Marie Roos
Senior Lecturer in the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Lincoln
Producer: Thomas Morris.
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LINKS AND FURTHER READING
Simon Schaffer at the University of Cambridge
Michael Hunter at Birkbeck College, University of London
Anna Marie Roos at the University of Lincoln
Robert Boyle - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
READING LIST:
Michael Hunter, Boyle: Between God and Science (Yale University Press, 2009)
Michael Hunter and Edward B. Davis (eds.), Robert Boyle: A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
Michael Hunter, Robert Boyle: Scrupulosity and Science (Boydell, 2000)
J.J. MacIntosh (ed.), The Excellencies of Robert Boyle (Broadview Editions, 2008)
Lawrence M. Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
Lawrence M. Principe, The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and His Alchemical Quest (Princeton University Press, 2000)
Lawrence M. Principe and William R. Newman, Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry (Chicago University Press, 2002)
Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life (Princeton University Press, 2011)
Steven Shapin, A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in 17th-Century England (Chicago University Press, 1994)
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
| Producer | Thomas Morris |
| Interviewed Guest | Simon Schaffer |
| Interviewed Guest | Michael Hunter |
| Interviewed Guest | Anna Marie Roos |
Broadcasts
- Thu 12 Jun 2014 09:00BBC Radio 4
- Thu 12 Jun 2014 21:30BBC Radio 4
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