In the 17th century a man set out to prove that God existed. His method - SCIENCE. Known today as the father of modern Chemistry, Robert Boyle defined what we know as the scientific method, all the while predicting the future of science in a way that seems almost supernatural!
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Centuries Collide | Cody Crouch: Robert Boyle - The Man Who Saw The Future | Centuries Collide | January 30, 2025
- - i am cody crouch.
- 00:00:01.468 --> 00:00:02.569
- I'm traveling the globe, uncovering the origins of
- 00:00:02.569 --> 00:00:04.137
- The stuff that we use every day. on centuries
- 00:00:04.137 --> 00:00:07.140
- Collide, we're creating some of history's
- 00:00:07.140 --> 00:00:08.842
- Greatest moments
- 00:00:08.842 --> 00:00:09.809
- Exactly how they happen.
- 00:00:09.809 --> 00:00:11.611
- Well, almost exactly.
- 00:00:11.611 --> 00:00:13.780
- - the gutenberg press. [crickets chirping]
- 00:00:13.780 --> 00:00:18.251
- - charge!
- 00:00:18.251 --> 00:00:20.220
- - this is history like you've never seen it before.
- 00:00:20.220 --> 00:00:23.256
- ♪♪
- 00:00:23.256 --> 00:00:29.195
- The famous science fiction writer, arthur c.
- 00:00:29.195 --> 00:00:31.297
- Clarke once said, any sufficiently advanced
- 00:00:31.297 --> 00:00:34.300
- Technology is indistinguishable
- 00:00:34.300 --> 00:00:36.503
- From magic.
- 00:00:36.503 --> 00:00:37.937
- Think about it.
- 00:00:37.937 --> 00:00:39.038
- If we were to take any one of our modern devices
- 00:00:39.038 --> 00:00:40.974
- And transplant it into history even just a
- 00:00:40.974 --> 00:00:43.143
- Hundred years ago, people would regard something
- 00:00:43.143 --> 00:00:45.912
- Like this as an absolute supernatural bundle.
- 00:00:45.912 --> 00:00:49.782
- Organ transplants, gps, and even genetically
- 00:00:49.782 --> 00:00:52.652
- Modified food,
- 00:00:52.652 --> 00:00:54.154
- All of these 21st century technologies relocated
- 00:00:54.154 --> 00:00:57.090
- Anywhere else in history
- 00:00:57.090 --> 00:00:58.458
- Might as well be science fiction.
- 00:00:58.458 --> 00:01:01.027
- All these ideas may appear to be modern inventions.
- 00:01:01.027 --> 00:01:03.763
- There was one guy predicting them over 350
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- Years ago, and no, it wasn't a science
- 00:01:06.966 --> 00:01:09.369
- Fiction author.
- 00:01:09.369 --> 00:01:10.336
- He was an actual scientist, but not just
- 00:01:10.336 --> 00:01:12.505
- Any scientist.
- 00:01:12.505 --> 00:01:14.207
- He's known as the father of modern chemistry and
- 00:01:14.207 --> 00:01:16.709
- The scientific method, which is like a really
- 00:01:16.709 --> 00:01:19.479
- Big deal.
- 00:01:19.479 --> 00:01:23.216
- ♪♪ [rings doorbell]
- 00:01:23.216 --> 00:01:25.285
- Today we call people like him a futurist.
- 00:01:25.285 --> 00:01:27.587
- But in 1668, friends of his like isaac newton,
- 00:01:27.587 --> 00:01:30.323
- John locke and christopher wren
- 00:01:30.323 --> 00:01:32.158
- Well, they just called him bob.
- 00:01:32.158 --> 00:01:34.527
- - hey bob.
- 00:01:34.527 --> 00:01:35.295
- - buckle up.
- 00:01:35.295 --> 00:01:36.162
- It's time for centuries collide.
- 00:01:36.162 --> 00:01:37.931
- ♪♪
- 00:01:37.931 --> 00:01:42.936
- 350 years ago, a scientific trailblazer
- 00:01:42.936 --> 00:01:45.838
- Put pen to paper to write a wishlist of things that
- 00:01:45.838 --> 00:01:49.075
- He hoped science would one day achieve.
- 00:01:49.075 --> 00:01:51.811
- The result was this catalog of 24 legendary
- 00:01:51.811 --> 00:01:54.881
- Predictions, everything from hair dye to
- 00:01:54.881 --> 00:01:57.550
- Air travel.
- 00:01:57.550 --> 00:01:58.618
- This dude saw the future of science in a way that
- 00:01:58.618 --> 00:02:01.120
- Would've seemed bananas.
- 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:05.825
- His name was robert boyle, but it might as
- 00:02:05.825 --> 00:02:08.828
- Well have been like doc brown.
- 00:02:08.828 --> 00:02:10.496
- You see, this dude was from the future, or
- 00:02:10.496 --> 00:02:13.266
- So it seemed.
- 00:02:13.266 --> 00:02:14.667
- ♪♪
- 00:02:14.667 --> 00:02:16.669
- - great scott! to the future.
- 00:02:16.669 --> 00:02:20.940
- ♪♪
- 00:02:20.940 --> 00:02:25.111
- - boyle's predictions about the future of
- 00:02:25.111 --> 00:02:26.646
- Science are absolutely incredible.
- 00:02:26.646 --> 00:02:29.415
- He saw things like airplanes, submarines, organ
- 00:02:29.415 --> 00:02:32.919
- Transplants, antidepressants, as well
- 00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:35.822
- As scratch and sniff paper.
- 00:02:35.822 --> 00:02:39.292
- What's even more remarkable is how devout
- 00:02:39.292 --> 00:02:42.195
- The man was to his faith.
- 00:02:42.195 --> 00:02:43.863
- He would not only go on to make some of the most
- 00:02:43.863 --> 00:02:45.898
- Amazing predictions and discoveries in science,
- 00:02:45.898 --> 00:02:48.868
- But he would write and defend his faith against
- 00:02:48.868 --> 00:02:51.537
- Famous rationalist philosophers like descartes.
- 00:02:51.537 --> 00:02:56.743
- We'll get to more of these amazing writings
- 00:02:56.743 --> 00:02:57.910
- And scientific aspirations later as we
- 00:02:57.910 --> 00:02:59.479
- Journey through england.
- 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:00.546
- But just to give you a little taste, boyle's
- 00:03:00.546 --> 00:03:02.582
- Ideas about pain medicine and sleeping pills have
- 00:03:02.582 --> 00:03:04.984
- Just recently become features of
- 00:03:04.984 --> 00:03:06.986
- Contemporary medicine.
- 00:03:06.986 --> 00:03:08.254
- Yet he was making these predictions based off of
- 00:03:08.254 --> 00:03:10.623
- His own scientific discoveries centuries ago.
- 00:03:10.623 --> 00:03:14.494
- ♪♪
- 00:03:14.494 --> 00:03:16.229
- Before we get to a scientific career, we
- 00:03:16.229 --> 00:03:17.697
- Have to understand what it was like living in the
- 00:03:17.697 --> 00:03:19.966
- 17th century.
- 00:03:19.966 --> 00:03:21.467
- Remember, this was the time of the plague and
- 00:03:21.467 --> 00:03:23.836
- The pilgrims.
- 00:03:23.836 --> 00:03:25.038
- For much of the 1600s, england was in
- 00:03:25.038 --> 00:03:27.106
- A constant state of crisis. between religious
- 00:03:27.106 --> 00:03:29.309
- Infighting, the bubonic plague, and reoccurring
- 00:03:29.309 --> 00:03:31.811
- Crop failures,
- 00:03:31.811 --> 00:03:32.979
- The mid 1600s is considered one of the
- 00:03:32.979 --> 00:03:35.682
- Most difficult periods to survive in england.
- 00:03:35.682 --> 00:03:38.418
- - more money,
- 00:03:38.851 --> 00:03:39.686
- Please.
- 00:03:39.686 --> 00:03:40.987
- More money.
- 00:03:40.987 --> 00:03:42.855
- More please.
- 00:03:42.855 --> 00:03:44.857
- More --
- 00:03:44.857 --> 00:03:45.725
- Oh, shucks.
- 00:03:45.725 --> 00:03:47.060
- - there was also massive economic inequality.
- 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:49.662
- 30% of the entire population of england was
- 00:03:49.662 --> 00:03:52.999
- Considered extremely poor, meaning one in
- 00:03:52.999 --> 00:03:55.935
- Three people couldn't afford to eat every day.
- 00:03:55.935 --> 00:03:59.172
- ♪♪
- 00:03:59.172 --> 00:04:02.241
- What's crazy is that in the middle of such an
- 00:04:02.241 --> 00:04:03.843
- Awful time in history came some of the world's
- 00:04:03.843 --> 00:04:06.179
- Greatest minds like john locke,
- 00:04:06.179 --> 00:04:08.314
- Voltaire, montesquieu.
- 00:04:08.314 --> 00:04:10.249
- These political philosophers would look
- 00:04:10.249 --> 00:04:11.617
- At the social problems across europe and
- 00:04:11.617 --> 00:04:13.353
- Provide solutions.
- 00:04:13.353 --> 00:04:14.987
- Many of their solutions would go on to influence
- 00:04:14.987 --> 00:04:16.823
- Some real american og's like jefferson,
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- Franklin and adams.
- 00:04:19.225 --> 00:04:21.427
- Beyond political science came the scientific
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- Revolution, and with it icons like galileo,
- 00:04:24.831 --> 00:04:28.234
- Pascal, newton,
- 00:04:28.234 --> 00:04:30.203
- Their names now synonymous with discovery
- 00:04:30.203 --> 00:04:32.805
- Itself, which brings us to our hero today,
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- Robert boyle who unlike other children growing up
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- In the uk, wasn't struggling to find a meal.
- 00:04:38.478 --> 00:04:42.482
- Nearly 150 years before the american revolution,
- 00:04:42.482 --> 00:04:45.685
- Robert boyle was born into one of the
- 00:04:45.685 --> 00:04:47.320
- Wealthiest families in britain.
- 00:04:47.320 --> 00:04:49.956
- He was the 14th child and the seventh son of
- 00:04:49.956 --> 00:04:52.158
- Richard boyle, a very politically powerful man
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- Who owned estates all over ireland and england.
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- ♪♪
- 00:04:59.999 --> 00:05:05.638
- At the age of 17, boyle returned here to the
- 00:05:05.638 --> 00:05:07.974
- Manner of stalbridge in dorset, england.
- 00:05:07.974 --> 00:05:10.543
- During his years here, he was described as a a part
- 00:05:10.543 --> 00:05:12.845
- Recluse, a young squire of modest means. some say
- 00:05:12.845 --> 00:05:17.617
- While he was alone here in stalbridge, his brain
- 00:05:17.617 --> 00:05:19.652
- Really got going.
- 00:05:19.652 --> 00:05:21.220
- He spent a lot of time outdoors and soon began
- 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:24.056
- Questioning and examining everything around him.
- 00:05:24.056 --> 00:05:28.561
- One early writing about his life says that he
- 00:05:28.561 --> 00:05:30.329
- Would spend four or five hours alone in the fields
- 00:05:30.329 --> 00:05:33.299
- And think at random. - people who take care of
- 00:05:33.299 --> 00:05:36.002
- Chickens are literally chicken tenders.
- 00:05:36.002 --> 00:05:39.872
- Blinking is the plural of winking.
- 00:05:39.872 --> 00:05:44.777
- Gravity is always trying to pull your pants off.
- 00:05:44.777 --> 00:05:46.913
- Alarm clocks make you mad regardless if they
- 00:05:46.913 --> 00:05:48.848
- Work or not. [bell rings]
- 00:05:48.848 --> 00:05:50.850
- Taking candy from a baby is actually a responsible
- 00:05:50.850 --> 00:05:54.654
- Thing to do.
- 00:05:54.654 --> 00:05:56.556
- So take that candy from that baby.
- 00:05:56.556 --> 00:06:00.560
- - perhaps it was this thinking at random that
- 00:06:00.660 --> 00:06:02.895
- Some of his ideas about god and nature began to
- 00:06:02.895 --> 00:06:06.032
- Take shape.
- 00:06:06.032 --> 00:06:07.233
- You see, even though boyle is considered one
- 00:06:07.233 --> 00:06:09.302
- Of the greatest scientific writers and
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- Minds in history, he was also immensely dedicated
- 00:06:11.504 --> 00:06:16.042
- To his faith.
- 00:06:16.042 --> 00:06:17.677
- It was while he was here that he began writing
- 00:06:17.677 --> 00:06:19.312
- Christian devotionals that would be widely
- 00:06:19.312 --> 00:06:21.314
- Distributed throughout england.
- 00:06:21.314 --> 00:06:23.749
- His scientific critics would end up calling
- 00:06:23.749 --> 00:06:25.351
- These writings just scribbles of
- 00:06:25.351 --> 00:06:27.053
- Natural philosophy.
- 00:06:27.053 --> 00:06:28.488
- But to young robert, they were so much more than
- 00:06:28.488 --> 00:06:31.290
- - just scribbles.
- 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:36.662
- - they're just a bunch of scribbles.
- 00:06:36.662 --> 00:06:39.599
- - [whiningly] they're not scribbles.
- 00:06:39.599 --> 00:06:43.269
- - these writings on faith were at first
- 00:06:43.269 --> 00:06:44.871
- Glance, a simple daily devotional, a deeply
- 00:06:44.871 --> 00:06:47.707
- Spiritual defense of faith against other
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- Scientific minds during the age of moral
- 00:06:50.142 --> 00:06:52.778
- Reasoning and boyle's, discoveries of biblical
- 00:06:52.778 --> 00:06:55.147
- Scripture would inspire much of his
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- Scientific study.
- 00:06:57.049 --> 00:06:58.851
- But this quiet country life soon became a bore
- 00:06:58.851 --> 00:07:01.053
- For the expanding mind of this young scientist.
- 00:07:01.053 --> 00:07:03.723
- So the age of 27, he packed up all of his
- 00:07:03.723 --> 00:07:05.525
- Stuff and headed to the hustling bustling town of
- 00:07:05.525 --> 00:07:08.461
- Oxford, england.
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- ♪♪
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- Over the next 14 years, boyle would spend his
- 00:07:14.467 --> 00:07:16.435
- Life right here,
- 00:07:16.435 --> 00:07:18.004
- The university of oxford was where a majority of
- 00:07:18.004 --> 00:07:20.473
- His research and experimentation would
- 00:07:20.473 --> 00:07:22.008
- Take place.
- 00:07:22.008 --> 00:07:23.142
- Now, don't ask me why, but boyle was particularly
- 00:07:23.142 --> 00:07:26.045
- Interested in how gases behaved under pressure.
- 00:07:26.045 --> 00:07:29.782
- In fact, he was obsessed with the idea of air.
- 00:07:29.782 --> 00:07:33.986
- Yeah, air.
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- - my name is robert boyle.
- 00:07:35.988 --> 00:07:37.023
- You know what i like?
- 00:07:37.023 --> 00:07:38.925
- I'll give you one gas. [phhtt]
- 00:07:38.925 --> 00:07:42.161
- And maybe two.
- 00:07:42.161 --> 00:07:43.362
- - now, here's the thing.
- 00:07:43.362 --> 00:07:44.430
- Today we take for granted all these discoveries
- 00:07:44.430 --> 00:07:46.866
- That these scientists were making over
- 00:07:46.866 --> 00:07:48.801
- 300 years ago.
- 00:07:48.801 --> 00:07:49.969
- Things that are so obvious to us today like
- 00:07:49.969 --> 00:07:52.371
- Air is a gas and water is a liquid,
- 00:07:52.371 --> 00:07:55.174
- These things were just then being discovered
- 00:07:55.174 --> 00:07:57.577
- And defined.
- 00:07:57.577 --> 00:07:59.011
- This is what makes boyle's later list of 24
- 00:07:59.011 --> 00:08:00.813
- Scientific predictions, even crazier.
- 00:08:00.813 --> 00:08:04.250
- He didn't even have the terms to describe the
- 00:08:04.250 --> 00:08:05.885
- Future, yet he was able to predict it.
- 00:08:05.885 --> 00:08:09.055
- - what i see in the future of science, it's
- 00:08:09.055 --> 00:08:13.125
- Pretty cool. [phhtt]
- 00:08:13.125 --> 00:08:16.262
- - okay, back to gas.
- 00:08:16.262 --> 00:08:17.797
- Boyle lived in a house here in oxford that he
- 00:08:17.797 --> 00:08:19.565
- Converted into a laboratory where he
- 00:08:19.565 --> 00:08:21.601
- Conducted many of his experiments.
- 00:08:21.601 --> 00:08:24.003
- A lot of them had to do with compressed air,
- 00:08:24.003 --> 00:08:26.472
- Which usually required a specialty built air pump.
- 00:08:26.472 --> 00:08:29.141
- This air pump would essentially just be a
- 00:08:29.141 --> 00:08:31.010
- Vacuum chamber that helped create a
- 00:08:31.010 --> 00:08:33.412
- Controlled environment for experimentation on,
- 00:08:33.412 --> 00:08:36.082
- You guessed it, air.
- 00:08:36.082 --> 00:08:38.718
- ♪♪ [phhttt]
- 00:08:38.718 --> 00:08:46.892
- - although an improved vacuum chamber was boyle's idea,
- 00:08:46.892 --> 00:08:49.729
- It was designed in part by his junior assistant
- 00:08:49.729 --> 00:08:52.431
- Robert hooke, who would later go on to discover
- 00:08:52.431 --> 00:08:54.867
- And coin the term cell.
- 00:08:54.867 --> 00:08:57.303
- Not like the phone, like the microscopic kind.
- 00:08:57.303 --> 00:09:00.473
- - robert, robert, i think i see it.
- 00:09:00.473 --> 00:09:03.275
- - what? a cell.
- 00:09:03.275 --> 00:09:04.710
- I know.
- 00:09:04.710 --> 00:09:05.378
- I can't find mine.
- 00:09:05.378 --> 00:09:06.646
- - yes, a cell right here.
- 00:09:06.646 --> 00:09:07.279
- - yes.
- 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:08.080
- I just had my cell right here.
- 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:08.948
- - this is a cell - that's a cell?
- 00:09:08.948 --> 00:09:12.418
- Oooh.
- 00:09:12.418 --> 00:09:14.053
- Hello, siri.
- 00:09:14.053 --> 00:09:15.054
- Call my phone.
- 00:09:15.054 --> 00:09:15.955
- - you have two cells in your head.
- 00:09:15.955 --> 00:09:17.890
- - just a second,
- 00:09:17.890 --> 00:09:18.924
- Siri.
- 00:09:18.924 --> 00:09:19.892
- - it is the cell through the microscope.
- 00:09:19.892 --> 00:09:20.893
- Look at it through--
- 00:09:20.893 --> 00:09:21.927
- - siri, call my phone.
- 00:09:21.927 --> 00:09:24.930
- - you're a fool.
- 00:09:24.930 --> 00:09:28.100
- - no, you're right.
- 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:29.201
- It works.
- 00:09:29.201 --> 00:09:29.902
- - it's easy.
- 00:09:29.902 --> 00:09:30.803
- Look through the microscope.
- 00:09:30.803 --> 00:09:31.904
- There's a cell if you use two of --
- 00:09:31.904 --> 00:09:33.372
- - hello.
- 00:09:33.372 --> 00:09:34.573
- - so boyle was surrounded by wicked
- 00:09:34.573 --> 00:09:36.575
- Smart guys all conducting experiments with gas and
- 00:09:36.575 --> 00:09:39.278
- Cited, hey, we should all form a club.
- 00:09:39.278 --> 00:09:42.782
- This club or fraternity would start as a meeting
- 00:09:42.782 --> 00:09:45.851
- In the mines, a gig squad, if you will.
- 00:09:45.851 --> 00:09:48.688
- They came up with a pretty cool name for
- 00:09:48.688 --> 00:09:50.589
- Their club, the invisible college, just like my
- 00:09:50.589 --> 00:09:53.492
- College degree, invisible.
- 00:09:53.492 --> 00:10:02.201
- Anyway, boyle, christopher wren, robert
- 00:10:02.201 --> 00:10:05.471
- Hooke, and isaac newton were all born within 16
- 00:10:05.471 --> 00:10:07.473
- Years of each other, and boyle brought them all
- 00:10:07.473 --> 00:10:09.442
- Together in the invisible college.
- 00:10:09.442 --> 00:10:11.944
- It would meet in each other's homes and pubs
- 00:10:11.944 --> 00:10:13.279
- All around town.
- 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.814
- I mean, talk about a real genius bar.
- 00:10:14.814 --> 00:10:19.852
- - i've done half of the architectural structural
- 00:10:19.852 --> 00:10:21.954
- Designs after the 1666 london fire.
- 00:10:21.954 --> 00:10:25.357
- - whoa, i've got gas.
- 00:10:25.357 --> 00:10:29.428
- I've got a thing for it.
- 00:10:29.428 --> 00:10:31.197
- You know what i mean?
- 00:10:31.197 --> 00:10:33.532
- - gravity. - collaboration is always the
- 00:10:33.532 --> 00:10:36.135
- Key to discovery.
- 00:10:36.135 --> 00:10:37.336
- And what's amazing that these guys were some of
- 00:10:37.336 --> 00:10:39.905
- The first to recognize that, and because of
- 00:10:39.905 --> 00:10:42.007
- Their willingness to open up with the group, they
- 00:10:42.007 --> 00:10:44.543
- Were all able to propel their own individual
- 00:10:44.543 --> 00:10:47.680
- Works forward.
- 00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:49.281
- The invisible college, which boyle started
- 00:10:49.281 --> 00:10:51.183
- Would eventually be renamed in 1660 by
- 00:10:51.183 --> 00:10:53.119
- King charles ii.
- 00:10:53.119 --> 00:10:54.987
- It would be called the royal society, which is
- 00:10:54.987 --> 00:10:58.390
- Still considered by many today as the most
- 00:10:58.390 --> 00:11:01.527
- Significant and well-respected scientific
- 00:11:01.527 --> 00:11:03.295
- Communities in the world.
- 00:11:03.295 --> 00:11:07.700
- - if you study science long enough, you get to
- 00:11:07.700 --> 00:11:10.803
- The end of it, you're going to find god stand
- 00:11:10.803 --> 00:11:12.404
- There waiting.
- 00:11:12.404 --> 00:11:13.506
- Hey, what took you so long?
- 00:11:13.506 --> 00:11:15.374
- I don't know how-- he might not have that accent.
- 00:11:15.374 --> 00:11:17.443
- - boyle, like many of his royal society
- 00:11:17.443 --> 00:11:19.278
- Buddies, was a natural philosopher and was very
- 00:11:19.278 --> 00:11:22.348
- Devout in his faith.
- 00:11:22.348 --> 00:11:24.183
- They even held prayer and devotion routinely during
- 00:11:24.183 --> 00:11:26.886
- These meetings.
- 00:11:26.886 --> 00:11:28.554
- - studying nature as a product of god's
- 00:11:28.554 --> 00:11:31.090
- Handiwork is inherently religious duty.
- 00:11:31.090 --> 00:11:35.427
- Utilizing scientific method will show god's
- 00:11:35.427 --> 00:11:38.697
- Omnipresence and his goodness.
- 00:11:38.697 --> 00:11:41.100
- - boyle newton and many other scientists at the
- 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:43.502
- Time believed that god had a hand in the
- 00:11:43.502 --> 00:11:45.771
- Creation of the entire universe and still
- 00:11:45.771 --> 00:11:49.208
- Operated in it,
- 00:11:49.208 --> 00:11:50.976
- A philosophy today that scientists may view
- 00:11:50.976 --> 00:11:53.112
- As irrational.
- 00:11:53.112 --> 00:11:54.180
- These geniuses however believed that the
- 00:11:54.180 --> 00:11:56.615
- Practice of science was god allowing humanity to
- 00:11:56.615 --> 00:11:59.919
- Discover his existence.
- 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:02.888
- Also, in 1660, boyle wrote his very first
- 00:12:02.888 --> 00:12:05.591
- Scientific publication ever, and it had one
- 00:12:05.591 --> 00:12:08.327
- Seriously, long name: new experiments, physical,
- 00:12:08.327 --> 00:12:11.997
- Mechanical, touching the spring of the air
- 00:12:11.997 --> 00:12:14.433
- And its effects. in it,
- 00:12:14.433 --> 00:12:16.101
- He explains his discoveries regarding air
- 00:12:16.101 --> 00:12:18.404
- Pressure and the vacuum.
- 00:12:18.404 --> 00:12:20.105
- No, not like a dyson vacuum, like a
- 00:12:20.105 --> 00:12:22.341
- Space vacuum.
- 00:12:22.341 --> 00:12:28.681
- - please stop vacuuming.
- 00:12:29.248 --> 00:12:30.549
- - i'm sorry.
- 00:12:30.549 --> 00:12:31.617
- The sand doesn't travel when i'm vacuuming.
- 00:12:31.617 --> 00:12:33.652
- - i just made discovery.
- 00:12:33.652 --> 00:12:37.590
- - what? - sand will not travel
- 00:12:37.590 --> 00:12:39.825
- In a vacuum.
- 00:12:39.825 --> 00:12:41.260
- - you're a genius. and the candle doesn't burn either.
- 00:12:41.260 --> 00:12:49.368
- Yes, i was about to say that.
- 00:12:49.368 --> 00:12:53.339
- - were you? - probably.
- 00:12:53.339 --> 00:12:58.477
- - boyle and hooke discovered
- 00:12:58.477 --> 00:12:59.712
- Several physical characteristics of air
- 00:12:59.712 --> 00:13:01.347
- In a vacuum.
- 00:13:01.347 --> 00:13:02.414
- They found that sound could not travel in a
- 00:13:02.414 --> 00:13:04.149
- Vacuum and a candle couldn't burn.
- 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:06.252
- Again, knowledge that is so elementary to us today
- 00:13:06.252 --> 00:13:09.521
- These guys were just then discovering. another one
- 00:13:09.521 --> 00:13:14.960
- Of their findings later became known as
- 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:17.129
- Boyle's law.
- 00:13:17.129 --> 00:13:18.530
- Yeah, he's his own scientific law named
- 00:13:18.530 --> 00:13:20.499
- After him, and it was revolutionary.
- 00:13:20.499 --> 00:13:23.135
- Boyle's law states that an inverse relationship
- 00:13:23.135 --> 00:13:25.704
- Exists between the pressure and the volume
- 00:13:25.704 --> 00:13:28.540
- Of a gas.
- 00:13:28.540 --> 00:13:30.476
- Now i have no idea what that means.
- 00:13:30.476 --> 00:13:33.712
- So in order to find out, we got to head to
- 00:13:33.712 --> 00:13:36.015
- Hastings and talk to doctor
- 00:13:36.015 --> 00:13:38.150
- Michael hunter, one of the leading experts on
- 00:13:38.150 --> 00:13:40.219
- The life, robert boyle.
- 00:13:40.219 --> 00:13:42.955
- I've heard that you know more about robert boyle
- 00:13:42.955 --> 00:13:45.257
- Than just about anybody else alive.
- 00:13:45.257 --> 00:13:47.760
- - quite likely.
- 00:13:47.760 --> 00:13:48.627
- Yes, certainly.
- 00:13:48.627 --> 00:13:50.029
- - well, there's no better person to be
- 00:13:50.029 --> 00:13:51.030
- Sitting with.
- 00:13:51.030 --> 00:13:52.298
- You think it's safe to say that boyle is one of
- 00:13:52.298 --> 00:13:54.333
- The greatest scientific minds of all time?
- 00:13:54.333 --> 00:13:56.201
- - well, i would say that, wouldn't i?
- 00:13:56.201 --> 00:13:58.737
- But i do think that he is a very significant figure.
- 00:13:58.737 --> 00:14:02.041
- I mean, he does suffer from the fact that he was
- 00:14:02.041 --> 00:14:05.110
- A virtual contemporary of newton's.
- 00:14:05.110 --> 00:14:07.513
- I mean, newton grew up under boyle's shadow. when
- 00:14:07.513 --> 00:14:10.582
- Newton was a young man,
- 00:14:10.582 --> 00:14:12.451
- Everyone acknowledged boyle as the greatest
- 00:14:12.451 --> 00:14:14.386
- Scientist of the day.
- 00:14:14.386 --> 00:14:16.422
- But after boyle's death, newton takes on the role
- 00:14:16.422 --> 00:14:20.359
- Of being the greatest scientist of all time.
- 00:14:20.359 --> 00:14:22.828
- But newton, he starts his work on optics by
- 00:14:22.828 --> 00:14:26.799
- Replicating experiments that have been done by
- 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.802
- Boyle and his early notebooks are filled with
- 00:14:29.802 --> 00:14:33.672
- Notes from boyle's writings.
- 00:14:33.672 --> 00:14:35.841
- So there's no question at all that boyle is a very
- 00:14:35.841 --> 00:14:38.677
- Large influence on newton.
- 00:14:38.677 --> 00:14:40.512
- - how did other scientists at the time
- 00:14:40.512 --> 00:14:42.014
- View boyle and his scientific method?
- 00:14:42.014 --> 00:14:44.216
- - that's an interesting question.
- 00:14:44.216 --> 00:14:45.617
- The scientists are spread out all over europe at
- 00:14:45.617 --> 00:14:47.786
- This point, and many of the greatest ones are
- 00:14:47.786 --> 00:14:50.756
- Working in countries other than england.
- 00:14:50.756 --> 00:14:53.092
- And boyle writes exclusively in english.
- 00:14:53.092 --> 00:14:56.962
- All of his books are written in english.
- 00:14:56.962 --> 00:14:58.731
- And so insofar as he wanted to communicate in
- 00:14:58.731 --> 00:15:01.667
- Latin, he had to have his works translated.
- 00:15:01.667 --> 00:15:04.770
- And boyle went to infinite trouble to have
- 00:15:04.770 --> 00:15:06.905
- His books translated into latin so that they could
- 00:15:06.905 --> 00:15:09.875
- Reach this international scientific community and
- 00:15:09.875 --> 00:15:12.544
- Have the impact that he wanted.
- 00:15:12.544 --> 00:15:14.713
- I mean, it's really interesting that he
- 00:15:14.713 --> 00:15:16.849
- Actually started to have his books translated
- 00:15:16.849 --> 00:15:19.485
- Before they were printed.
- 00:15:19.485 --> 00:15:21.553
- If you meticulously compare the latin and
- 00:15:21.553 --> 00:15:24.490
- English editions of his books, you sometimes find
- 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:27.159
- Sentences that are missing from the
- 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:28.961
- Latin edition.
- 00:15:28.961 --> 00:15:30.129
- And it's clear that the translator was working
- 00:15:30.129 --> 00:15:32.631
- From a text which boyle very slightly adjusted
- 00:15:32.631 --> 00:15:35.567
- Before it went to press in english.
- 00:15:35.567 --> 00:15:38.037
- In other words, it was a slightly earlier draft,
- 00:15:38.037 --> 00:15:40.873
- Which shows how urgently he thought it was to get
- 00:15:40.873 --> 00:15:43.409
- His writings into latin at the earliest
- 00:15:43.409 --> 00:15:45.911
- Opportunity to get them circulating into this
- 00:15:45.911 --> 00:15:48.414
- International audience.
- 00:15:48.414 --> 00:15:49.948
- And it worked in the sense that his book on
- 00:15:49.948 --> 00:15:53.185
- The air, new experiments touching the spring of
- 00:15:53.185 --> 00:15:56.055
- The air was the subject of attacks by people
- 00:15:56.055 --> 00:16:01.026
- Representing alternative scientific outlooks who
- 00:16:01.026 --> 00:16:04.296
- Clearly read it in latin using this edition that
- 00:16:04.296 --> 00:16:08.767
- He'd arranged to have put into print.
- 00:16:08.767 --> 00:16:11.837
- And he was then able to respond to them.
- 00:16:11.837 --> 00:16:14.440
- Of course, he responded to them in english, but
- 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:16.308
- That again was translated in latin.
- 00:16:16.308 --> 00:16:18.577
- And so there was a kind of dialogue between him
- 00:16:18.577 --> 00:16:20.879
- And these other scientists in which he
- 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.449
- Continued to emphasize his conclusions, but also
- 00:16:23.449 --> 00:16:27.653
- Emphasize the means by which he reached them,
- 00:16:27.653 --> 00:16:30.489
- I.e. through replicable experiments and so in a
- 00:16:30.489 --> 00:16:35.060
- Game, in a way that promoted his method as
- 00:16:35.060 --> 00:16:40.032
- Well as his conclusions.
- 00:16:40.032 --> 00:16:42.034
- - so do you think boyle would've been as great of
- 00:16:42.034 --> 00:16:45.871
- A scientific mind without his faith?
- 00:16:45.871 --> 00:16:48.574
- - i think to visualized boyle without his faith
- 00:16:48.574 --> 00:16:51.944
- Is impossible.
- 00:16:51.944 --> 00:16:53.112
- So it's just a non question. i mean, boyle's faith is
- 00:16:53.112 --> 00:16:57.916
- Integral to boyle as an individual, and there's
- 00:16:57.916 --> 00:17:01.553
- Just no way in which you could imagine him
- 00:17:01.553 --> 00:17:03.922
- Without it.
- 00:17:03.922 --> 00:17:05.090
- - so tell us about boyle's 24
- 00:17:05.090 --> 00:17:07.259
- Scientific predictions.
- 00:17:07.259 --> 00:17:09.495
- - he wrote this book, the usefulness of natural
- 00:17:09.495 --> 00:17:11.597
- Philosophy, which is such an optimistic book.
- 00:17:11.597 --> 00:17:14.500
- It's so full of confidence in the power
- 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:18.904
- Of science to improve the human condition.
- 00:17:18.904 --> 00:17:22.307
- And at one point he uses the concept of optative and
- 00:17:22.307 --> 00:17:27.813
- He has sort of optatives for science and he
- 00:17:27.813 --> 00:17:30.916
- Specific, he has a whole paragraphs about what
- 00:17:30.916 --> 00:17:32.651
- These optatives are, and they're things like
- 00:17:32.651 --> 00:17:34.653
- Making metal fusible and that sort of thing.
- 00:17:34.653 --> 00:17:37.156
- And he says these are things that are not fanciful.
- 00:17:37.156 --> 00:17:41.460
- They're not absolutely impossible, but they are
- 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:43.495
- Very, very difficult.
- 00:17:43.495 --> 00:17:44.863
- But the advantage of thinking about them is
- 00:17:44.863 --> 00:17:46.765
- That it might encourage someone to crack the
- 00:17:46.765 --> 00:17:49.067
- Problem, and i think that's the thinking
- 00:17:49.067 --> 00:17:51.870
- Behind this wishlist for science, that if people
- 00:17:51.870 --> 00:17:54.806
- Think enough about how humans might fly or how
- 00:17:54.806 --> 00:17:59.211
- To survive underwater or how to live longer, that
- 00:17:59.211 --> 00:18:04.349
- Gradually people might come towards them and
- 00:18:04.349 --> 00:18:06.818
- That there is one passage in one of his books,
- 00:18:06.818 --> 00:18:09.121
- Which is really touching really, in which he says
- 00:18:09.121 --> 00:18:12.558
- The same thing about the growth of human knowledge
- 00:18:12.558 --> 00:18:14.726
- As a whole.
- 00:18:14.726 --> 00:18:15.861
- That he looks forward to a time when people would
- 00:18:15.861 --> 00:18:19.164
- Look back on his age and almost with sort of
- 00:18:19.164 --> 00:18:21.867
- Disdain, sort of rather patronizingly disdainful
- 00:18:21.867 --> 00:18:25.504
- Of the sort of fumbling steps they were making.
- 00:18:25.504 --> 00:18:29.975
- But he has confidence in this era of the future in
- 00:18:29.975 --> 00:18:34.146
- Which people will have this superior knowledge
- 00:18:34.146 --> 00:18:36.548
- That he believes he's contributing to.
- 00:18:36.548 --> 00:18:39.685
- - now here's a little refresher for those who
- 00:18:39.685 --> 00:18:41.553
- Haven't been in school for a while.
- 00:18:41.553 --> 00:18:43.455
- Basically, chemistry is understanding the
- 00:18:43.455 --> 00:18:45.958
- Composition, structure and properties of well,
- 00:18:45.958 --> 00:18:49.494
- Everything. organic or synthetic, from the gas in
- 00:18:49.494 --> 00:18:53.065
- Your car to the device you're watching me on
- 00:18:53.065 --> 00:18:54.900
- Right now,
- 00:18:54.900 --> 00:18:56.134
- It's all made possible by the understanding of how
- 00:18:56.134 --> 00:18:58.270
- One element reacts to the other.
- 00:18:58.270 --> 00:19:00.639
- Boom.
- 00:19:00.639 --> 00:19:01.974
- Chemistry.
- 00:19:01.974 --> 00:19:03.208
- Chemistry is also considered the central
- 00:19:03.208 --> 00:19:05.277
- Science because it bridges physics with
- 00:19:05.277 --> 00:19:08.013
- Other natural sciences like geology and biology,
- 00:19:08.013 --> 00:19:11.650
- And robert boyle is the dude that was figuring
- 00:19:11.650 --> 00:19:13.785
- This all out over 350 years ago.
- 00:19:13.785 --> 00:19:17.522
- What also makes boyle such a legend is the way
- 00:19:17.522 --> 00:19:20.859
- He experimented. his entire scientific career
- 00:19:20.859 --> 00:19:23.228
- Can be characterized by experiments and
- 00:19:23.228 --> 00:19:25.030
- Observation, which today is like, yeah, duh,
- 00:19:25.030 --> 00:19:28.667
- Experiments equals science.
- 00:19:28.667 --> 00:19:30.102
- But again, in the 1600s, boyle was
- 00:19:30.102 --> 00:19:32.437
- Starting an entire scientific revolution.
- 00:19:32.437 --> 00:19:35.741
- His formulaic way of experimenting is what
- 00:19:35.741 --> 00:19:37.943
- Gave us the scientific method. in the 1600s,
- 00:19:37.943 --> 00:19:40.646
- Even the idea of an experiment was
- 00:19:40.646 --> 00:19:42.848
- Considered controversial.
- 00:19:42.848 --> 00:19:44.016
- The established way of discovering something was
- 00:19:44.016 --> 00:19:47.119
- Really just to sit around and argue it out until you
- 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:49.221
- Came to some sort of agreement.
- 00:19:49.221 --> 00:19:50.956
- - if i drop this log into this kitty pool.
- 00:19:50.956 --> 00:19:53.925
- Do you think it will float?
- 00:19:53.925 --> 00:19:55.894
- - well, i don't know, bill.
- 00:19:55.894 --> 00:19:57.596
- I have never seen a log float in a pool.
- 00:19:57.596 --> 00:19:59.731
- No.
- 00:19:59.731 --> 00:20:00.799
- - are you sure?
- 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:01.933
- - if only there was a way we could test to see if
- 00:20:01.933 --> 00:20:04.069
- These would float, - it floats.
- 00:20:04.069 --> 00:20:08.874
- Do an experiment, you idiots.
- 00:20:08.874 --> 00:20:11.643
- - but boyle had a better idea.
- 00:20:11.643 --> 00:20:13.345
- He was going to draw his conclusions from what
- 00:20:13.345 --> 00:20:15.914
- Actually happened.
- 00:20:15.914 --> 00:20:19.051
- Gosh, this guy was smart.
- 00:20:19.051 --> 00:20:20.752
- Wow.
- 00:20:20.752 --> 00:20:21.853
- - and thus, the need for chemistry and why it's so
- 00:20:21.853 --> 00:20:24.323
- Important. class, we must use a scientific method.
- 00:20:24.323 --> 00:20:27.225
- The scientific method is this: question,
- 00:20:27.225 --> 00:20:29.461
- Hypothesis, experiment.
- 00:20:29.461 --> 00:20:32.297
- Then we get the solution.
- 00:20:32.297 --> 00:20:34.333
- Now, any questions?
- 00:20:34.333 --> 00:20:37.469
- - this experimentation process again sounds so
- 00:20:37.469 --> 00:20:41.106
- Elementary, but believe it or not, boyle was one
- 00:20:41.106 --> 00:20:44.609
- Of the first prominent scientists to ever do
- 00:20:44.609 --> 00:20:47.112
- Controlled experimentation.
- 00:20:47.112 --> 00:20:48.680
- He would document his work with details
- 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:50.916
- Concerning procedure, apparatus and observations.
- 00:20:50.916 --> 00:20:54.886
- Thus, the process of the scientific method
- 00:20:54.886 --> 00:20:57.422
- Was established.
- 00:20:57.422 --> 00:20:59.257
- Boyle's contribution to chemistry was based on a
- 00:20:59.257 --> 00:21:01.993
- Mechanical corpuscularian hypothesis.
- 00:21:01.993 --> 00:21:05.163
- Don't worry, i didn't know what that
- 00:21:05.163 --> 00:21:07.666
- Meant either.
- 00:21:07.666 --> 00:21:09.534
- It basically means everything is composed of
- 00:21:09.534 --> 00:21:11.370
- Particles of a single universal matter, and
- 00:21:11.370 --> 00:21:14.206
- These particles are only differentiated by the
- 00:21:14.206 --> 00:21:16.475
- Shape and motion.
- 00:21:16.475 --> 00:21:18.377
- Does that sound familiar?
- 00:21:18.377 --> 00:21:19.811
- It's atomic theory.
- 00:21:19.811 --> 00:21:26.385
- He just didn't have a word for atoms,
- 00:21:26.485 --> 00:21:28.653
- Protons, neutrons.
- 00:21:28.653 --> 00:21:30.589
- He didn't even have the tools to prove that
- 00:21:30.589 --> 00:21:32.324
- They existed.
- 00:21:32.324 --> 00:21:33.558
- In fact, only within the last few years has
- 00:21:33.558 --> 00:21:35.560
- Science even been able to see an atom,
- 00:21:35.560 --> 00:21:37.963
- Something boyle hypothesized
- 00:21:37.963 --> 00:21:39.765
- Over 350 years ago. - only i had a way to see
- 00:21:39.765 --> 00:21:46.171
- The littlest of the tiniest of the matter.
- 00:21:46.171 --> 00:21:51.343
- Now we're talking.
- 00:21:51.343 --> 00:21:56.448
- - boyle's own handwritten scientific
- 00:21:56.448 --> 00:21:57.849
- Wishlist was found in his personal papers
- 00:21:57.849 --> 00:22:00.118
- After his death.
- 00:22:00.118 --> 00:22:01.820
- It was donated the royal society in 1691.
- 00:22:01.820 --> 00:22:04.623
- His wishlist of ideas range from the obvious
- 00:22:04.623 --> 00:22:07.592
- And rational observations such as the prolongation of life.
- 00:22:07.592 --> 00:22:10.495
- - medicine, - the art of flying, and
- 00:22:10.495 --> 00:22:14.299
- Perpetual light or electricity.
- 00:22:14.299 --> 00:22:15.967
- - you're not my father! ahh! - but to the even more
- 00:22:15.967 --> 00:22:22.607
- Bizarre ideas like varnishes perfumable by
- 00:22:22.607 --> 00:22:24.242
- Rubbing, which would literally be scratch and
- 00:22:24.242 --> 00:22:26.845
- Sniff paper. - that smells like pizza.
- 00:22:26.845 --> 00:22:29.881
- - he envisioned unsinkable motorized
- 00:22:29.881 --> 00:22:31.583
- Boats at a time where there were no such thing
- 00:22:31.583 --> 00:22:34.352
- As an engine.
- 00:22:34.352 --> 00:22:35.454
- He saw a ship to sail with all winds and a ship
- 00:22:35.454 --> 00:22:38.356
- Not to be sunk.
- 00:22:38.356 --> 00:22:39.758
- He predicted navigation at sea beyond
- 00:22:39.758 --> 00:22:42.327
- Studying constellations.
- 00:22:42.327 --> 00:22:43.662
- - gps. siri, take me home.
- 00:22:43.662 --> 00:22:48.266
- - boyle also saw medical revolutions like
- 00:22:48.266 --> 00:22:50.869
- Organ transplants. - and one day young lady, we'll
- 00:22:50.869 --> 00:22:53.004
- Be able to put you to sleep during this procedure.
- 00:22:53.004 --> 00:22:56.274
- - and the idea of chemistry to be used to develop
- 00:22:56.274 --> 00:22:58.844
- Medications, things like pain medicine,
- 00:22:58.844 --> 00:23:00.712
- Antidepressants, sleeping pills, as well as some
- 00:23:00.712 --> 00:23:03.515
- More other controversial drugs like artificial
- 00:23:03.515 --> 00:23:06.485
- Stimulants and drugs to, in his words, exalt or
- 00:23:06.485 --> 00:23:10.889
- Alter imagination.
- 00:23:10.889 --> 00:23:13.024
- Kids, don't do drugs.
- 00:23:13.024 --> 00:23:14.993
- Today, we totally take this stuff for granted.
- 00:23:14.993 --> 00:23:17.529
- But in the 17th century, this list was
- 00:23:17.529 --> 00:23:19.397
- Borderline prophetic.
- 00:23:19.397 --> 00:23:21.600
- The very concept of his predictions didn't even
- 00:23:21.600 --> 00:23:24.035
- Exist yet.
- 00:23:24.035 --> 00:23:25.337
- With how much science has changed since the 17th
- 00:23:25.337 --> 00:23:27.973
- Century, it's unbelievable that his
- 00:23:27.973 --> 00:23:31.042
- Predictions are even still relevant.
- 00:23:31.042 --> 00:23:33.645
- Think of it like open sourced experimentation
- 00:23:33.645 --> 00:23:35.514
- Where a collective of smart dudes could all
- 00:23:35.514 --> 00:23:38.149
- Work on the same solution to a problem.
- 00:23:38.149 --> 00:23:40.585
- Of course, this led to massive advances in
- 00:23:40.585 --> 00:23:44.289
- Scientific community. while boyle was making
- 00:23:44.289 --> 00:23:51.029
- Tremendous scientific strides
- 00:23:51.029 --> 00:23:52.931
- Here in england, there was another revolution
- 00:23:52.931 --> 00:23:55.567
- Taking place, a revolution of thought
- 00:23:55.567 --> 00:23:57.969
- Pioneered by a man named rene' descartes, a
- 00:23:57.969 --> 00:24:00.372
- Philosopher and scientist from france.
- 00:24:00.372 --> 00:24:06.244
- Descartes has often been named the father of
- 00:24:06.244 --> 00:24:07.712
- Western philosophy.
- 00:24:07.712 --> 00:24:09.214
- It was his ideas and approach to philosophy
- 00:24:09.214 --> 00:24:11.449
- That has set the basis for modern
- 00:24:11.449 --> 00:24:13.251
- Rationalist thought.
- 00:24:13.251 --> 00:24:14.886
- The first of his ideas was methodic doubt.
- 00:24:14.886 --> 00:24:17.989
- This philosophy shifted the debate from asking
- 00:24:17.989 --> 00:24:20.258
- The question, what is true
- 00:24:20.258 --> 00:24:22.494
- To what can i be certain of?
- 00:24:22.494 --> 00:24:25.664
- This simple - question that descartes
- 00:24:25.664 --> 00:24:27.532
- Began to ask shifted the authoritative giver of
- 00:24:27.532 --> 00:24:29.401
- Truth from god to man.
- 00:24:29.401 --> 00:24:32.771
- He started a revolution that believed that
- 00:24:32.771 --> 00:24:35.273
- Humanity and or science should dictate what was true.
- 00:24:35.273 --> 00:24:38.777
- He said, we should only put our faith in what we
- 00:24:38.777 --> 00:24:41.279
- Can be certain of based upon science
- 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.148
- And reasoning.
- 00:24:43.148 --> 00:24:44.249
- You actually might know him by his most famous
- 00:24:44.249 --> 00:24:46.017
- Saying, "i think therefore i am."
- 00:24:46.017 --> 00:24:49.154
- - and this guy claims to be a philosopher of
- 00:24:49.154 --> 00:24:51.256
- Science, more like a philosopher of hubbub.
- 00:24:51.256 --> 00:24:56.628
- How many b's? - remember boyle was a
- 00:24:56.628 --> 00:24:58.763
- Devout anglican who championed his faith.
- 00:24:58.763 --> 00:25:01.466
- He was deeply concerned that irreligion and
- 00:25:01.466 --> 00:25:03.635
- Atheism was on the rise, so he strove to
- 00:25:03.635 --> 00:25:06.137
- Demonstrate ways in which science and faith were
- 00:25:06.137 --> 00:25:09.040
- Mutually supportive.
- 00:25:09.040 --> 00:25:11.009
- While the religious writings of boyle in his
- 00:25:11.009 --> 00:25:12.544
- Twenties were primarily devotional, as he grew
- 00:25:12.544 --> 00:25:15.180
- Older and the debate shifted from one of
- 00:25:15.180 --> 00:25:17.282
- Rationalism, boyle began to focus on more
- 00:25:17.282 --> 00:25:19.985
- Difficult philosophical issues,
- 00:25:19.985 --> 00:25:22.354
- One's of reason, nature and the complexity of faith
- 00:25:22.354 --> 00:25:25.957
- - faith and doubt.
- 00:25:25.957 --> 00:25:28.059
- Two sides of the same coin.
- 00:25:28.059 --> 00:25:30.795
- Faith is only illuminated when doubt exists
- 00:25:30.795 --> 00:25:35.467
- Without doubt,
- 00:25:35.467 --> 00:25:36.701
- How can you have faith?
- 00:25:36.701 --> 00:25:40.538
- If you tell me that you've never experienced
- 00:25:40.538 --> 00:25:42.307
- Doubt, i doubt the sincerity of your faith.
- 00:25:42.307 --> 00:25:50.882
- Good catch.
- 00:25:50.882 --> 00:25:52.183
- - he defended his belief in god with vigor.
- 00:25:52.183 --> 00:25:55.186
- He worked to prove that science and faith weren't
- 00:25:55.186 --> 00:25:57.489
- Independent of each other, but rather they
- 00:25:57.489 --> 00:26:00.025
- Worked to prove each other's existence.
- 00:26:00.025 --> 00:26:02.293
- As his popularity as a scientist grew, so did
- 00:26:02.293 --> 00:26:05.597
- His popularity as a defender of faith. with
- 00:26:05.597 --> 00:26:08.667
- His wealth, he began to sponsor many educational
- 00:26:08.667 --> 00:26:11.636
- And missionary activities, even helped
- 00:26:11.636 --> 00:26:13.638
- Translate the bible into irish, turkish,
- 00:26:13.638 --> 00:26:16.374
- Welsh and milan.
- 00:26:16.374 --> 00:26:19.444
- What's milan, but boyle's
- 00:26:19.444 --> 00:26:21.179
- Christianity went way further than just
- 00:26:21.179 --> 00:26:22.947
- Expository articles on faith and reason. he put
- 00:26:22.947 --> 00:26:25.850
- His faith into practice daily.
- 00:26:25.850 --> 00:26:28.219
- A great example of this is how he treated those
- 00:26:28.219 --> 00:26:30.221
- Who worked for him at his estate.
- 00:26:30.221 --> 00:26:32.190
- The poorest residence received a cash gift
- 00:26:32.190 --> 00:26:35.226
- Every christmas.
- 00:26:35.226 --> 00:26:36.728
- - oh, sir, you are so gracious.
- 00:26:36.728 --> 00:26:39.698
- What an honorable man.
- 00:26:39.698 --> 00:26:42.634
- - free rent
- 00:26:42.634 --> 00:26:43.768
- During the holiday season and on other occasions,
- 00:26:43.768 --> 00:26:46.104
- Medicine boyle had made in his own laboratory
- 00:26:46.104 --> 00:26:49.074
- Would be sent to town to treat those who could not
- 00:26:49.074 --> 00:26:51.176
- Afford it.
- 00:26:51.176 --> 00:26:54.813
- [laughs happily]
- 00:26:54.813 --> 00:26:57.115
- Robert boyle is an outstanding example of a
- 00:26:57.115 --> 00:26:59.451
- Scientist whose faith interacted fundamentally
- 00:26:59.451 --> 00:27:02.921
- With his work.
- 00:27:02.921 --> 00:27:04.322
- Just as boyle was able to look into the future and
- 00:27:04.322 --> 00:27:06.324
- Predict the discoveries that science would soon
- 00:27:06.324 --> 00:27:08.359
- Make, he was also able to predict that science
- 00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:10.929
- Would move away from the notion of a creator.
- 00:27:10.929 --> 00:27:14.532
- In order to prevent this in his final will and
- 00:27:14.532 --> 00:27:16.835
- Testament, he left his entire life's work to the
- 00:27:16.835 --> 00:27:19.571
- Royal society. with it, a request to establish a
- 00:27:19.571 --> 00:27:23.775
- Series of lectures in defense of christianity.
- 00:27:23.775 --> 00:27:26.711
- These lectures, now known as the boyle lectures
- 00:27:26.711 --> 00:27:29.314
- Continue here in london to this very day.
- 00:27:29.314 --> 00:27:33.985
- Robert boyle's research experiments and
- 00:27:33.985 --> 00:27:36.020
- Scientific predictions have been largely
- 00:27:36.020 --> 00:27:38.456
- Responsible for shaping society as we know it.
- 00:27:38.456 --> 00:27:41.092
- The current advancements of chemistry are helping
- 00:27:41.092 --> 00:27:43.595
- Us fight diseases, create sustainable sources of power.
- 00:27:43.595 --> 00:27:47.165
- And i mean, who doesn't love huge avocados,
- 00:27:47.165 --> 00:27:49.968
- Right?
- 00:27:49.968 --> 00:27:50.935
- We all have benefited tremendously from
- 00:27:50.935 --> 00:27:52.904
- Boyle's legacy.
- 00:27:52.904 --> 00:27:58.176
- It was the stuff that he discovered and predicted
- 00:27:58.176 --> 00:27:59.944
- That helped lay the foundation for our
- 00:27:59.944 --> 00:28:01.546
- Modern lives.
- 00:28:01.546 --> 00:28:03.014
- All the while, boyle was able to maintain this
- 00:28:03.014 --> 00:28:05.083
- Graceful bridge between science and faith.
- 00:28:05.083 --> 00:28:09.287
- 350 years ago, he could see where we are today.
- 00:28:09.287 --> 00:28:12.824
- Sure, he's known as the father of
- 00:28:12.824 --> 00:28:14.192
- Modern chemistry.
- 00:28:14.192 --> 00:28:15.794
- But really, robert boyle is the father of
- 00:28:15.794 --> 00:28:18.763
- Our modern world.
- 00:28:18.763 --> 00:28:20.498
- We'll see you next time.
- 00:28:20.498 --> 00:28:20.498