Joseph Priestley

English chemist and polymath (1733–1804)

Joseph Priestley (24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator and classical liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted experiments in several areas of science. Priestley is credited with his independent discovery of oxygen by the thermal decomposition of mercuric oxide, having isolated it in 1774.

From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA. More on occurri.