Joseph Priestly, whose monumental discoveries brought him universal acclaim, was the victim of unrelenting persecution which finally led to his banishment from England to a haven in the United States.

At the age of eleven, Priestley began to develop a lifelong interest in the ministry. At the same time, he was curiously intrigued with the world of science, and by the time he was fourteen he had conducted hundreds of experiments in electricity. In his early twenties, he met Benjamin Franklin who inspired him to write The History of Electricity, an ambitious undertaking.

Later he became interested in gases, isolating and describing the properties of nitric oxide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen, carbon dioxide. His exceptional skill in experimentation made up for his lack of thorough training in science during his youth, and his greatest single achievement was the discovery of oxygen, to which Antoine Lavoisier also laid claim but which he was forced to rescind.

Priestley, a man of dynamic independent ideas, believed in the rights of the common man, expressed sympathy for the aims of the French Revolution and the cause of freedom for the American colonies. It was because of these advanced ideas that a lawless mob wrecked his house, destroyed his library and scientific apparatus, and caused him to flee to America.

Today every chemistry student is taught the results of Priestley's experiments—and the highest honor one can achieve in the chemical world is the Joseph Priestley medal given by the American Chemical Society for Distinguished Service to Chemistry.

From the book