Born on 24 March 1733 in Birstall, Yorkshire, Joseph Priestly, chemist, physicist, teacher, minister, and theologian. Most famous today for the discovery of oxygen, he also discovered nine other gasses, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrous oxide, hydrogen chloride (gaseous hydrochloric acid), ammonia, sulphur dioxide, silicon tetrafluoride, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide. Priestly also discovered carbonated water, and was awarded the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1773.
A dissenting minister, and founder of Unitarianism, Priestly believed in the power of science to improve the world for mankind, although he was notoriously bad at capitalizing on his inventions, and frequently upsetting both the authorities of the day and the public with his religious views, campaigning for the rights of dissenters, and support for the French Revolution. In 1791, while he was living in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, his house was looted and burned by rioters after it became public knowledge that he was hosting a dinner party to celebrate the second anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.
Rioters Burning Dr. Priestley's House at Birmingham, 14 July 1791, by Johann Eckstein. Norton Anthology of English Literature/Wikimedia Commons.
Following the burning of his house, Priestly relocated to Hackney, then a parish in Middlesex, and where he established a new home and laboratory with the help of wealthier supporters. However, he continued to be unpopular with both the public and the government, being burned in effigy, and regularly targeted by political cartoonists, as well as politicians who saw him as an enemy of the British Government. In 1792 he was granted French citizenship by a decree of the French National Assembly, but with Britain and France on the brink of war, relocating to France was not feasible, and in 1794 Priestly emigrated with his family to Pennsylvania, where he lived until his death in 1804.
