The Irish scientist Robert Boyle investigated the relationship between pressure and volume in the 17th century. He trapped a bubble of air at the sealed end of a J-shaped tube using liquid mercury.

Among Oldenburg’s frequent correspondents was the highly esteemed “noble philosopher” Robert Boyle. Although the Anglo-Irish scientist is best known for Boyle’s Law of gases, his first contribution to ...

Hooke worked with Robert Boyle to make the first air pump, allowing experiments on animals at reduced atmospheric pressure. He even built a human decompression chamber and carried out experiments ...