Biographie de Joseph Priestley

JOSEPH PRIESTLEY

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Priestley

https://victorianweb.org/history/dnb/4.html

Part 1 :

During a trip in Birmingham, I saw, on the place Chamberlin, a bronze statue of Joseph Priestley. This statue was originally made of marble but had to be recast in bronze. The statue sculpted by a British sculptor. Then, I wanted to know more about Joseph PRIESTLEY.

Part 2 :

He was born on 13 March 1733 in Bristall Fieldhead, near Leeds, in England.

He died on 6 February 1804 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.

Priestley was born into a family of moderately successful wool-cloth makers. He entered the Dissentig Academy at Daventry in 1752. He received an excellent education in philosophy, science, languages and literature. In 1762 he married Mary WILKINSON. They had one daughter and three sons.

It said of him that he had good relations with others and that he was a sensitive person.
He was a very active and meticulous person.

Benjamin FRANKLIN encouraged him to publish “The history and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments” in 1767. He used history to show that scientific progress depended more on the accumulation of new facts.  Priestley discovered 10 new gases: nitric oxide, sulfur dioxide, oxygen…. . He collected these gases over mercury instead of in water, he was able to isolate and examine gases that were soluble in water. For his work, he was awarded the Royal Society’s prestigious Copley Medal in 1773. He met Antoine LAVOISIER in Paris, and he informed the French chemist how he obtained the gas of oxygen.

Subsequently, because of his religious beliefs, he moved away from science.

On July 14, 1791, the Church and King mod destroyed Priestley’s house and laboratory. More later he began a teacher at New College, Oxford and defended his anti-British government.

Part 4:

If he was born in another country like South Africa for exemple, a country not as developed, with not the same materials, the science might not progress. Today, without him, gases could just be discovered or not yet and our current knowledge wouldn’t be the same. It could be interesting to discuss with him to ask how he arrived at the end of his career and to understand his choices and his evolution as scientific as personal.

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A portrait of Joseph Priestley

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A book written by J.Priestley

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A statue of Joseph Priestley

https://climate.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Joseph-Priestley.jpg

Born of Joseph PRIESTLEY        His wedding             His first book publish     He receives a medal for his research  dead of

Joseph PRIESTLEY

 13 March 1733                        1762                                1767                                1773                        6 February 1804

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