Boyle: Between God and Science

by Michael Hunter

Overview

Robert Boyle ranks with Newton and Einstein as one of the world’s most important scientists. Aristocrat and natural philosopher, he was a remarkably wide-ranging and penetrating thinker—pioneering the modern experimental method, championing a novel mechanical view of nature, and reflecting deeply on philosophical and theological issues related to science. But, as Michael Hunter shows, Boyle was also a complex and contradictory personality, fascinated by alchemy and magic and privately plagued with doubts about faith and conscience, which troubled the rational vision he heralded.

This extraordinary work is the first biography of Boyle in a generation, and the culminating achievement of a world-renowned expert on the scientist. Deftly navigating Boyle’s voluminous published works as well as his personal letters and papers, Hunter’s complete and intimate account gives us the man rather than myth, the troubled introvert as well as the public campaigner. Lively, perceptive, and full of original insights, this is the definitive account of a remarkable man and the changing world in which he lived.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300169317
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	10/12/2010
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

A renowned world expert on Robert Boyle, Michael Hunter is professor of history, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the 2011 Roy G. Neville Prize sponsored by Chemical Heritage Foundation

Chemical Heritage Foundation - Roy G. Neville Prize

"Robert Boyle [is] one of the most prominent natural philosophers of the second half of the seventeenth century. . . . This book will provide essential background for scholars."—Margaret J. Osler, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Journal of Ecclesiastical History - Margaret J. Osler

"Definitive."--Choice

Choice

"Michael Hunter is. . . our leading authority on Boyle."--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

The Washington Post - Michael Dirda

"Hunter has written what will be the first point of reference for future inquiries concerning Boyle."--American Scientist

American Scientist

Shortlisted for the 2009 History of Science's Pfizer Prize for Outstanding Book

History of Science Society - Pfizer Prize Shortlist

Selected as one of the Top 10 Books of the Year, Seed Magazine

Seed Magazine - Top 10 Books of the Year

"Robert Boyle [is] one of the most prominent natural philosophers of the second half of the seventeenth century. . . . This book will provide essential background for scholars."—Margaret J. Osler, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

— Margaret J. Osler

Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"Michael Hunter is. . . our leading authority on Boyle."--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

— Michael Dirda

The Washington Post