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They may appear to be marvels of modern science. But organ transplants, satellite navigation and cosmetic surgery can actually be traced back - in idea form at least - to a 17th century scientist with a big imagination. More than 350 years ago, Robert Boyle wrote a wish list of what he hoped science would one day achieve.
In an era when Sir Isaac Newton was discovering gravity, Samuel Pepys was writing his diary and the bubonic plague was ravaging London, Boyle predicted many of the scientific revolutions that would take place during the next four centuries. His list covers developments that would have seemed outlandish to his contemporaries, from the dawn of air travel to the invention of painkillers.
But one by one, almost all of his 24 aspirations have been realised, including the production of genetically modified crops and the arrival of coffee shops. Boyle was one of the founders of the Royal Society in 1660 and his previously unseen list forms part of an exhibition marking the society's 350th anniversary.
It is thought Boyle, a leading intellectual figure of the age, dictated his hopes for the future to an assistant, who jotted them down.
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