Known The Father of Modern Chemistry, Boyle is considered  the most important scientist ever born in Ireland. He was born in Lismore Castle on 25th January 1627, the youngest son of the Great Earl of Corke, Richard Boyle and his second wife Catherine Fenton.  Robert spent his early childhood at Lismore before being sent to Eton at the age of eight.  At 11 he was taken out of school and tutored at the great earl’s new English base, Stalbridge House and shortly after dispatched on a Grand Tour of Europe with his older brother (Francis, aged 15) and his tutor before returning to England and devoting his life to writing and scientific research.

In 1655 Boyle moved to Oxford where he joined the Invisible College – a group of natural philosophers. About this time Boyle employed Robert Hooke to help him with his experiments. Boyle also proved the the inverse relationship between the volume of a gas and its pressure, which became known worldwide as Boyle’s Law. Robert Boyle also wrote on theology, philosophy as well as the new science.

Where and when is the festival happening

Events take place at Lismore Heritage Centre, the Tower Hotel and Waterford City Hall. The theme is Superhuman and experts will talk on areas such as Stone Age Genes and Space Age Technology, Superhumans in Ancient Irish Folklore and What is the Future of Human Evolution? In addition to this, there will be an art exhibition bt Nuala Clarke, a New York and Mayo based artist whose work has been inspired by Robert Boyle.

Cordula Weiss from CALMAST at WIT is one of the organisers of the Robert Boyle Summer School and she joined me On the Fringe. You can click the link below to listen...