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Welcome to the home page of the Workdiaries of Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle's workdiaries, written between 1647 and 1691, are a vivid record of observation and experimentation by one of founding fathers of modern science. These modest-looking bundles of papers and stitched books, some stained with chemicals and covered with notes and comments, reveal the methods and procedures of Boyle's scientific enquiries. They include records of recipes, measurements, apparatus and data collection, as well as notes from Boyle's reading and conversations with travellers and artisans.
From this site you can view images and transcripts of the workdiaries, search the workdiary texts, and access reference resources on places, people and books.
First time user? Take a guided tour of highlights from the workdiaries:
Reader's Guide to the Boyle Workdiaries
Browser note: This web site is optimised for use on Internet Explorer (version 5 and above) browsers running on the Microsoft Windows operating system.
October 2007: New image interface with zoom facility added.

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