~~Joseph+Priestly~~

[]

Name: Joseph Priestly Date of birth and death: 1733-1804 Country of origin: England Date of discovery: 1774, discovery of oxygen or what he callled "dephlogisticated air"  Joseph Priestly was the oldest of six children and was born to a Calvinist family in England. He was sent away to live with his aunt after his mother died and his father remarried. His aunt, seeing how bright he was, worked hard to ensure he received a good education. Later, he became very ill and survived, but he was left with a stutter. After this, he started off his career in ministry. His theories stirred controversy which caused him to flee for his life to America. He was a supporter of both the French and American Revolution. Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen and realized that air could be measured by breathability. He discovered a ir can be polluted but cleaned through different processes in nature. He formed his theory of combustion and and stressed the significance of oxygen in combustion. From these ideas branched the concept that air is not an element, but rather contains many different elements. Furthermore, Priestly determined that electrical forces were similar to gravitational forces. []