History Writing Assignment: Who Discovered Oxygen?

Who Discovered Oxygen?
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Who Discovered Oxygen?
Although oxygen has been present since the beginning of scientific investigation, it wasn't discovered and recognized as a separate element until 1774. Joseph Priestley of England was the first person to isolate oxygen in its pure form by heating mercuric oxide (Priestley, 1894). He used a glass lens to focus the rays of the sun on an inverted glass container with a lump of mercuric oxide, and placed in a pool of mercury. The gas collected was colorless, odorless, and tasteless. After further investigation, Priestley observed that the gas produced intensified the burning of a flame and could keep a mouse alive longer compared to when with the same amount of air. Based on these observations, he named his discovery as "dephlogisticated air” because it had no phlogiston yet it supported combustion. Regardless of its name, the effects of the gas were amazing. According to Levere, (2001), Priestley wrote that, "The feeling of it in my lungs was not sensibly different from that of common air, but I fancied that my breast felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards. Who can tell but that in time, this pure air may become a fashionable article in luxury? Hitherto only two mice and myself have had the privilege of breathing it.”
The gas was discovered several years by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. According to Kuhn (2012), Scheele was a well-known Germany Swedish chemist, but his scientific investigations were published too late. On the other hand, Priestley investigated and analyzed the properties of different "airs". Once the air is collected in the container, further analysis and tests are carried out to investigate whether it had flammable or life-sustaining properties.In one of these experiments, Priestley observed that once placed in a sealed jar, a flame goes off and a mouse dies, but having a green plant in the jar in the presence of sunlight, the flame continuous burning while the mouse lives (Priestley, 1894). He noted that the green plant “renews” the air, and suggested that the damage caused by the large popula...