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Johann Becker
Johann Becher was a German Chemist. In 1667, a year after the Great Fire of London, Becher proposed that the destructive power of fire was caused by an entity called phlogiston. Phlogiston is a colorless, odorless and tasteless substance that causes substances to burn. -
Discovery of Phosphorus
Hennig Brand, a German Alchemist, accidentally discovered the element 'phosphorus', by boiling human urine. The main reason that Hennig Brand boiled urine was that he believed the human body contained traces of gold and being obsessed with that belief, he conducted an experiment to boil human urine and accidentally discovered phosphorus. -
Charles Boyle
Charles Boyle is considered to be the 'Father of Chemistry. He divulged his chemical secrets to the world for the food of the scientific community. He brought Alchemy out of the shadows and into an enlightened rational age. He died on December 31, 1691, in London, England. -
Discovery of Oxygen
Joseph Priestley was an English Chemist. His interest in the gas produced during the fermentation process (carbon dioxide), led him to invent the first fizzy/soda drink, also known as Carbonated water. On August 1, 1774, Priestly performed one of the most important experiments in chemical history, the discovery of Oxygen. He prepared oxygen by heating mercuric oxide in a test tube. Since Joseph Priestly was a firm believer of the phlogiston theory, he named oxygen “dephlogisticated gas”. -
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier played an important part in Chemistry by freeing the world of Chemistry from the Phlogiston theory. He achieved that by reengineering Joseph Priestley's experiment of heating mercuric oxide to produce Oxygen. He concluded that the air which Priestley called 'dephlogisticated air' is another element, and recognized and named it Oxygen. Lavoisier was also the first scientist to define what an element was. He played a significant role in renaming a few elements and compounds. -
Discovery of Potassium
The element 'Potassium' was discovered by a Cornish chemist named Humphry Davy. Along with potassium, Davy was also responsible for the discovery of sodium, calcium, and barium. He was able to obtain Potassium by decomposing molten potassium hydroxide with a voltaic battery. The discovery of potassium was just the beginning for Humphry Davy, in time he added six more elements to Lavoisier's list of elements and also confirmed that chlorine and iodine were elements. -
Discovery of Hydrogen
Henry Cavendish discovered the first element on the periodic table, Hydrogen. He discovered Hydrogen by adding Zinc to an unknown acid and collected it. He thought it was some kind of a different type of air and called it 'inflammable air' because it put out a burning candle. Unfortunately, Cavendish was not credited with discovering 'Hydrogen' during his lifetime. Hydrogen was considered a discovery in the year 1810, after Henry Cavendish's death.
