Week 23 History Essay

            The four inventions and people that I learned about this week are the Mercury barometer, the vacuum pump, the pendulum clock, and Robert Boyle. First, is the mercury barometer. It is a tool used to measure atmospheric pressure or barometric pressure. It was invented in 1643 by Torricelli, who was a physicist. They are used by meteorologists to predict the changes of the weather. Second, I learned about the vacuum pump. It was invented in 1650 by Otto Von Guericke, who was a German scientist and mayor. It is a device that removes gas molecules from sealed containers. This led to the vacuum tube and the light bulb. Next, I learned about the pendulum clock. It was invented in 1656 by Chrisriaan Huyens, who was a Dutch scientist. It is a clock that uses a pendulum or a swinging weight as its time keeping element, and we still use them today. Last, I learned about Robert Boyle. He was a chemist, inventor and is considered the father of modern chemistry. He invented Boyle’s Law (which shows how gas particles behave). He also started the scientific process of using experiments to test theories. Those are the four inventions and people that I learned about this week. My favorite was Robert Boyle, because I think it is interesting how he started the scientific process.