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

George Graham

George Graham

Horologist (clockmaker), maker of scientific instruments, inventor, and geophysicist. Born near Carlisle and left Cumberland in 1688 for London. Joined the Tompion household and workshop in about 1...

Person, Craft / Design, Science

1 memorial
Royal Socity of Chemistry

Royal Socity of Chemistry

Formed as a merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry. It carries out research, publishes journals, books and da...

Group, Science

6 memorials
Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi

Born Bologna. Arrived in London, with his mother, in 1896 to patent his method of communication without wires. In 1897 he established the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company, which survived und...

Person, Science, Seriously Famous, TV & Radio, Italy

4 memorials
Sir George Cayley

Sir George Cayley

Scientist and pioneer of aviation. Born Scarborough.

Person, Aviation, Science

2 memorials