Chemistry came from alchemy. Robert Boyle was an alchemist and generally considered the first chemist. Typically alchemists believed in the Hermetic tradition that everything was composed of 4 basic elements (water, earth, wind, air; I think). Boyle suggested:
Quote (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sceptical_Chymist)
that matter consisted of atoms and clusters of atoms in motion and that every phenomenon was the result of collisions of particles in motion... Importantly, he advocated a rigorous approach to scientific experiment: he believed all theories must be proved experimentally before being regarded as true.
He also produced what we now call Boyle's Law which describes mathematically the relation between pressure and temperature (of a gas) in a closed system. This was/is key to the creation of the heat engines (steam engines and eventually the internal combustion engine in cars).
This post was edited by Azrad on Mar 28 2013 12:48pm