Person    | Male  Born 13/3/1733  Died 6/2/1804

Joseph Priestley

Categories: Science

Countries: USA

Born at Fieldhead, in the parish of Birstal, not far from Leeds, Yorkshire. Emigrated to US in 1794. Died Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Chemist. Discovered oxygen.

Had a stutter all his life. Invented carbonated water which became a popular drink and made him famous throughout Europe. A religious non-conformist with deeply-held convictions. Believed that scientific inquiry was a revolution spreading knowledge and that this would remove "all terror, oppression and prejudice". This was interpreted as revolutionary in the political sense and a Tory-inspired riot destroyed his laboratory etc. He escaped to Pennsylvania for 10 years. Priestley met the French chemist, Lavoisier, and freely shared his scientific findings. Priestley's claim to having discovered oxygen rests on him having isolated oxygen first and understanding better than Lavoisier what it was. But Priestley rejected the idea of exchanges between gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide and so was described by Cuvier as "the father of modern chemistry who never acknowledged his own daughter".

1774, with Theophilus Lindsey founded the first Unitarian congregation in England at Essex Street Chapel. 1793-4 Priestly was a minster at the Gravel Pit Chapel, E9.

Yorkshire Philosophical Society is good on Priestley's various abodes and their plaques.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Joseph Priestley

Commemorated ati

Joseph Priestley - E5

The house was demolished in 1880 and we have failed to find a picture of it. ...

Read More

Joseph Priestley - E9

Our photograph of the plaque is from Wikipedia Commons.

Read More

Joseph Priestley statue

The thinker in a cubby-hole effect is enhanced by being shrouded in netting (...

Read More

Other Subjects

Sir Charles Parsons

Sir Charles Parsons

Scientist and engineer. Designed marine turbines. Born 13 Connaught Place, Hyde Park into an aristocratic family. Died on board the liner The Duchess of Richmond, after taking ill in Jamaica.

Person, Engineering, Science

1 memorial
William Glanville

William Glanville

Engineering research. FRS.  Born 75 Kempe Road, Willesden.  Carried out research on concrete at first the Building Research Station and then the Road Research Laboratory.  During WW2 he was scienti...

Person, Engineering, Science

1 memorial
Professor Steve Eichhorn

Professor Steve Eichhorn

Stephen Eichhorn, born Manchester, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining. A co-opted member of the Windrush Co...

Person, Science

1 memorial
Alan Blumlein

Alan Blumlein

Electronics engineer, notable for his many inventions in telecommunications, sound recording, stereophonic sound, television and radar. He received 128 patents and was considered one of the most si...

Person, Music / songs, Science, Tragedy, TV & Radio

1 memorial
Robert Brown

Robert Brown

Botanist. Born Montrose, Scotland.

Person, Science, Scotland

1 memorial

Previously viewed

City of London School - EC2

City of London School - EC2

EC2, Milk Street

Site of the City of London School, 1835 - 1882 The Corporation of the City of London

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Gunner A. E. Brown
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Abbey Tavern

Abbey Tavern

NW1, Kentish Town Road, 124

The plaque is not very interesting but the brickwork on this building is so attractive that we were glad to find an excuse to include it....

3 subjects commemorated, 1 creator