Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Joseph Priestley's Radical Ideas in Science, Politics, and Religion
The discoverer of oxygen, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), was an English minister and scientist who counted as his friends such influential scholars as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Erasmus Darwin, James Watt, and Benjamin Franklin. His radical ideas on religion and politics made him a controversial figure throughout his life, culminating in an attack on his home during the Birmingham riots of 1791. Indeed, his writings on philosophy and religion managed to annoy or alienate nearly every church leader and politician in England. With the loss of his property and continued ill-feelings towards himself and his family, he decided in 1793 to emigrate to America.
The illustration is from the collection of online images available through the National Library of Medicine.