Lismore-Born Father of Modern Chemistry Portrayed By Royal Mail

2010 marks the 350th anniversary of The Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science and the world's oldest science academy.

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To celebrate this milestone the Royal Mail has issued a series of ten commemorative stamps. Each stamp features a Royal Society fellow who has "helped us to better understand the world and the universe through observation and experimentation." First in the series is Robert Boyle, the Lismore-born scientist who was instrumental to the foundation of the Royal Society in 1660 and who was elected to its presidency in 1680 (a position he declined as the oath contravened his religious principles).

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Boyle was the youngest son of Richard Boyle, the First Earl of Cork who purchased Lismore Castle, Robert's birthplace, as part of Walter Raleigh's Irish estates. Robert left his County Waterford home at a tender age to study at Eton and Oxford and to undertake a Grand Tour of Europe.

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Boyle earned the epitaph 'The Father of Modern Chemistry' for discoveries such as the importance of air in combustion, respiration and sound, the possibility of a vacuum and most importantly, the law that bears his name. It was Boyle's Law on the behaviour of gases (i.e. that at a constant temperature the pressure and volume of a gas are inversely proportionate) that guaranteed that the Lismore man's legacy to the scientific world would never be forgotten.

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Robert is already commemorated in his hometown. In the Heritage Centre 'The Robert Boyle Science Room' is a 17th century styled gentleman's study that welcomes budding scientists who visit the Heritage Centre, an accredited Discover Primary Science centre, on school tour. Pupils are made very aware of the town's most famous scientific son through a cartoon that introduces Boyle's life and works in a fun child-friendly way.

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Information on The Royal Mail's commemorative stamps can be found at

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps/jump1?catId=116000769&mediaId=115800796.

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More information on the Robert Boyle Science Room and science education at the Heritage Centre can be found on http://www.discoverlismore.com/ or you can call Alice on 058-54975.