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The Robert Boyle project

The Robert Boyle Project provides information about the eminent scientist, philosopher and philanthropist, Robert Boyle (1627-91), together with resources for studying him.

An archived website includes a complete set of digital images of the eleven most important volumes of the Boyle Papers at the Royal Society; research articles and downloadable texts on Boyle; introductory and more advanced accounts of Boyle's life and work; and a complete bibliography of modern writings on him up to 2017.

Added to this are further resources offering insight into Robert Boyle, including links to a bibliography of writings on him since 2017 and other key data.

Further information

Archived website

Though archived, this website provides crucial information about Boyle, including images of the key volumes of his archive, downloadable research texts and other useful tools, not least a complete bibliography of writings on him up to 2017.

Conference announcement

To mark the 400th anniversary of Boyle's birth, a one-day conference celebrating Boyle and his achievement will be held at the Royal Society of Chemistry, London, on 25 January 2027.

Bibliography of writings on Boyle since 2017

A list of books and articles on Boyle published since 2017 is available on Birkbeck Institutional Research Online (BIROn). The list will be updated from time to time.

Boyle's wishlist for science

An annotated text of Boyle's list of scientific 'desiderata' - from rejuvenation to making ships unsinkable. This displays a visionary aspect to Boyle's ambitions for natural knowledge, which is revealing in itself.

Michael Hunter's key research papers on Boyle

Read Michael Hunter's principal research papers on Boyle, made available in full text form, through BIROn. (Image shows Bishop Gilbert Burnet, Boyle's confidant.)

The Workdiaries of Robert Boyle

An edition of the workdiaries that Boyle kept for much of his life, which comprise records of experiments, extracts from books and information that he was given by others.

The Outlandish Book or the Travelling Naturalist

This book presents a reconstruction of Boyle’s intended anthology of his conversations with travellers to exotic regions, a vivid and engrossing text.

Boyle and Second Sight

Boyle took a pioneering interest in 'second sight', the ability of certain men and women in Scotland to foresee future events, not least because it seemed to offer empirical proof of a 'supernatural' realm.