Joseph Priestley, Pioneer in Chemistry

Soda pop has become a staple in everyday life. From Mountain Dew to Coca Cola, millions of cans of pop are consumed daily. Common belief is that these delicious beverages have only been around for the last 75 years, but, in reality, our forefathers such as George Washington and Ben Franklin could have enjoyed these drinks. Without the discoveries of Joseph Priestley, we may not have delicacies such as Coke and Pepsi, as well as many other important discoveries in Chemistry

Priestley was born March 13^th, 1733, in a small town near Leeds, called Fieldhead, in Yorkshire, England. Priestley was the oldest of five children. At the age of 7, his mother passed away. His father worked as a weaver and a tailor, but he had trouble supporting the large family, so at the age of nine, he and his siblings came under the care of his aunt (The Death of Joseph Priestley"). Priestley did attend schools in his youth, but because his dissenting religious views, he was not allowed into prestigious schools such as Oxford or Cambridge. Instead, he attended the Daventry Academy (Joseph Priestly: Icon of the Enlightenment". Despite his later success in the field of science, Priestley was never interested in the subject throughout his numerous years of schooling.

In 1766, he met the great American inventor and scientist, Benjamin Franklin. This encounter inspired Priestley to become more involved in the sciences and established a life-long friendship between himself and Franklin ("Joseph Priestley II"). Priestley was also associated with great inventors of the Enlightenment era such as James Watts.

In his mid-thirties, Priestley was ordained a Unitarian minister. He then took a post as minister to a church in his birthplace of Leeds. The home the church gave him happened to be next door to a brewery. Priestley was curious as to the "airs," or gases that surrounded the brewery. One of first experiments tested an unusual gas surrounding the breweries. This gas tended to sink towards the bottom of the "vats." For his experiment, he put burning wood chips in an area surrounded by the gas. He noticed that the wood chips had been extinguished. This was the discovery of carbon dioxide, which Priestley referred to as "fixed airs" ("The Death of Joseph Priestley"). Using theses two new discoveries, Priestley was also able to discover the process of plant photosynthesis.

Priestley then used this discovery in several different experiments. For one of those experiments, Priestley injected the "fixed airs' into ordinary water. When he tasted his new creation, he noted that it had a "tangy and pleasant taste" ("Joseph Priestley II). Although he did not realize it at the time, Priestley had laid the foundation for one of the most important discoveries for teenagers of all time. Although this new discovery was not his most famous, it did bring him more honors than any of his many other discoveries. He was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society, as well as an election to the French Academy of Sciences in 1772 and 1773 respectively ("Joseph Priestley II").

After he had met Ben Franklin, Franklin published his essay on electricity. Priestley believed this text was too complicated for the common man, so he decided to publish a simpler text based on Franklin's work. Priestley also decided to illustrate his essay with pictures. It was through his artistic ability, or lack there of, that one of the most ingenuous inventions arose. Prietley made several mistakes as he was drawing. He found that he could use a special substance to erase his mistakes. He called this substance "rubber," for its ability to "rub" out his mistakes.

Priestley also had many other notable discoveries. In the 1770's, he developed a device that allowed him to collect gases over mercury. One of the first gases he discovered using this method was nitrous oxide, more commonly known as laughing gas. Although not used for almost 100 years after its discovery, nitrous oxide was one of the first forms of anesthetic. Priestley also discovered many other important gases. Priestley is credited with discovering nitrogen and carbon monoxide.

In April of 1794, Priestley and his wife, Mary, emigrated to the United States. Their goal in the United States was to be reunited with their sons, who had left England a few years earlier. Once he arrived in Philadelphia, he was offered many positions including the chair of the chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania. He decided to decline these posts in order to lead a more peaceful life with Mary in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Here, Priestley continued his roles as minister, but did not do many more experiments. Priestley began failing in health, and he passed away on February 4^th, 1804 ("The Death of Joseph Priestley"). He was buried in a small Quaker cemetery next to his wife, and eldest son, Henry.

What would life be like without any of these inventions or discoveries? For one thing, many teenagers would go thirsty. Also, many papers and trees would go to waste due to the many errors made by people. We would not know much about what comprises the earth and our atmosphere. Without these discoveries, countless patients would have to suffer the pain of being operated on without anesthetics. Most importantly, many experiments using the gases and elements he discovered would not have taken place. Without these experiments, many other important discoveries would not have occurred. Joseph Priestley is responsible for a lot of the knowledge we have in the field of chemistry today. Without his great works, life would definitely not be the same.