Robert Boyle was an aristocratic Anglo-Irish experimental philosopher and one of the founders of modern chemistry. From 1645 he was part the 'Invisible College' which met regularly in London and aimed to develop a new scientific philosophy. In 1662, under a charter granted by Charles II, this group formed the core of the Royal Society of London, with Boyle becoming one of the first council members (he declined the presidency in 1680). Boyle moved to Oxford in 1654 where he set up a laboratory. It was here, with the assistance of Robert Hooke, that Boyle produced a uniquely effective design for an air pump. This was used for a series of experiments examining the characteristics of air and vacuum and led to the famous law bearing his name which states that the pressure of a fixed amount of gas is inversely proportional to its volume at a constant temperature.
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