After graduating she worked with Nobel prize Winner William H. Bragg at University College London, and later at The Royal Institution, London. Her life’s work was in studying the structure of chemicals and X-Ray crystallography. She had a profound influence on the development of this technique, as well as other fields in chemistry and physics.

She confirmed experimentally the structure of benzene in 1929.

In 1956 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, despite the fact that she had spent some time in Holloway prison in 1943 after refusing to register for civil defence duties during World War II and refusing to pay the subsequent 2 pound fine.

She achieved a number of other remarkable things during her lifetime – in 1945 she was the first woman, along with microbiologist Marjory Stephenson, to be elected Fellow of The Royal Society (London).

She was also the first female professor of University College, London, and, in 1967, became the first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). She was one of the founders of the Young Scientists’ section of the BA, and made the following note to herself: “Never refuse an opportunity to speak at schools.”

In her honour, a rare meteoric diamond has been named Lonsdaleite.

Boyle’s Law underlies the forecasts: areas of high and low pressure and the fronts between them.

Important though it is, Boyle’s Law is just one of the many achievements of one of the most remarkable Irish scientists. Robert Boyle was born in Lismore Castle, Waterford, on 25 January 1627, Boyle helped establish science as we know it today.

He has been called “the father of modern chemistry” and “the man who turned chemistry into a science”. His name is most often linked with chemistry, but he also studied widely in physics, languages, agriculture, mathematics, philosophy and religion.

Quick student

Robert Boyle was the youngest child and seventh son of the earl of Cork, one of the richest men in Britain and Ireland. He received the best education available for his day. He was sent to Eton school in Britain and then as a teenager to tour Europe with a tutor and his older brother and to study in Geneva.

He was a quick student of languages and learned six. Of all the fields of study open to him, he focused on science at an early age. There were new ideas being promoted, in particular the “new physics” of Bacon, Descartes and Galileo.

Returning to England in 1644, Boyle discovered that his father was dead and he had inherited a manor in Dorset and lands in Ireland. He devoted himself to study and scientific research and became a leading member of the group studying the “new philosophy”.

Air pump

After moving to Oxford 1654, Boyle set out to improve the air pump that hat been invented by Otto von Guericke. With the resulting “Pneumatical Engine”, finished in 1659, he carried out a series of experiments on the nature of air.

Using his air pump to create vacuums in a large vessel, he proved that that air is necessary for the transmission of sound. As he pumped the air out of the vessel, the sound of a watch inside became fainter and fainter. He also showed that air was needed for a flame in the vessel to go on burning. Boyle was among the first to carry out scientific research in a manner that we would recognise today. In particular he:

• Insisted on experiments that could be repeated as the basis for his conclusions
• Wrote in detail about his work and described his methods and results
• Defined the modern idea of an element, attacking the 2,000-year-old Aristotelian theory of four elements – earth, air, fire and water

Boyle went on inquiring and experimenting throughout his life. He wrote on religious as well as scientific topics and argued strongly that God created the universe according to definite laws that could then be studied by scientists.

Long before his death in 1691 Robert Boyle had established a huge international reputation.

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Learn more about Robert Boyle’s life and work

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