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Priestley, Joseph (1733-1804)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place: United Kingdom, England Subject : biography, chemistry English chemist and theologian. He entered chemistry when it was making the transition from alchemy to a theoretical science. An outstanding practical scientist, he combined experimental flair with quantitative accuracy - skills that led him to discover several new gases, including oxygen. He was less dynamic as a theorist; his conservatism made him a lifelong supporter of Georg Stahl 's phlogiston theory of combustion despite mounting evidence - much of it provided by Priestley himself - refuting the principle. Outside his scientific work his life was far from harmonious. He was an outspoken man of radical views, which brought him notoriety and eventually drove him to leave his native country. Priestley was born in Fieldhead, near Leeds, on 13 March 1733, the son of a cloth-dresser. His mother died when he was only seven years old and he was brought up by an aunt, who introduced him to Calvinism. In 1752 he attended the…
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Full text Article Priestley, Joseph

From Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World
A scientist and theologian best known as the...
One of the great men of science in the eighteenth century, known chiefly for the discovery of oxygen, Joseph Priestley was an intellectual of substantial range who taught classics and literature, wrote extensively on radical theology, and was an ordained minister. He is regarded as a founder of both…
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Full text Article Priestley, Joseph

From Philip's Encyclopedia
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Full text Article PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH (1733-1804)

From The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment
Joseph Priestley, man of science and theologian, strenuous advocate of rational dissent, and of civil and religious liberty, was welcomed in America in 1794 as a symbolic figure of all those fleeing governmental repression in England. In Philadelphia, he enjoyed the friendship of many figures of the…
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Full text Article PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH 1733-1804

From Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850
A list of Joseph Priestley's achievements seems to defy any single professional categorization: in ethics and political philosophy he was the author of the utilitarian principle (the greatest good for the greatest number); his histories of religion include a masterpiece of syncretism in the history…
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Full text Article Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804)

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology
natural philosopher, chemist Fearing imprisonment by British authorities, Joseph Priestley arrived in the United States in 1794 at the age of 61. He was publicly welcomed in New York City and in Philadelphia for being a long-standing friend of Americans and their experiment in republican government. …
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Full text Article Priestley, Joseph (1733-1804)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place: United Kingdom, England Subject : biography, chemistry English chemist and theologian. He entered chemistry when it was making the transition from alchemy to a theoretical science. An outstanding practical scientist, he combined experimental flair with quantitative accuracy - skills that led…
| 997 words
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Full text Article Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804),

From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
British experimental chemist, theologian, and philosopher. In 1774 he prepared oxygen by heating mercuric oxide. Although he continued to favor the phlogiston hypothesis, his work did much to discredit that idea. He discovered many gases, including ammonia, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and…
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Full text Article Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804).

From The Oxford Companion to British History
Chemist, clergyman, and political theorist. Priestley was born in Yorkshire and educated at Batley Grammar School and at Daventry dissenting academy. An amateur scientist of great renown, his discovery of ‘dephlogisticated air’, later named oxygen by Lavoisier, transformed the study of chemistry. As…
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Full text Article INFERENCE

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
American archaeologist At the inferential level, the archaeologist is at least providing the flesh for the bare bones of his data, and, if done with care and imagination, such a procedure makes possible the delineation and ultimate understanding of past cultures. Invitation to Archaeology Chapter I…
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