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Centuries Collide

Cody Crouch: Robert Boyle - The Man Who Saw The Future | Centuries Collide

January 30, 2025 | S1:E4

Cody Crouch: Robert Boyle - The Man Who Saw The Future | Centuries Collide
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!
#Church #ChurchHistory #WorldHistory #Atheist #History #Culture #Science #Technology #Economy #Future #inActive #CodyCrouch #Documentary #Poor

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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
  • 00:01:03.763 --> 00:01:06.966
  • 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,
  • 00:04:16.823 --> 00:04:19.225
  • Franklin and adams.
  • 00:04:19.225 --> 00:04:21.427
  • Beyond political science came the scientific
  • 00:04:22.395 --> 00:04:24.831
  • 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,
  • 00:04:32.805 --> 00:04:35.375
  • Robert boyle who unlike other children growing up
  • 00:04:35.375 --> 00:04:38.478
  • 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
  • 00:04:52.158 --> 00:04:55.294
  • Who owned estates all over ireland and england.
  • 00:04:55.294 --> 00:04:59.999
  • ♪♪
  • 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
  • 00:06:09.302 --> 00:06:11.504
  • 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
  • 00:06:47.707 --> 00:06:50.142
  • 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
  • 00:06:55.147 --> 00:06:57.049
  • 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.
  • 00:07:08.461 --> 00:07:10.363
  • ♪♪
  • 00:07:10.363 --> 00:07:14.467
  • 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.
  • 00:07:33.986 --> 00:07:35.988
  • - 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