Karl Wilhelm Scheele
Scheele was a Swedish chemist and pharmacist. He discovered oxygen independently of Priestley, although this was not published until after he died. He also discovered or identified chlorine (1774), barium oxide (1774), hydrogen fluoride (1777), hydrogen cyanide (1782), and arsenic acid. He also distinguished between nitric and nitrous acids. In addition, he demonstrated the presence of tartaric acid (1769) and oxalic acid (1776), among others, in plants. Further, he discovered lactic and uric acids in animals. In all, he made formidable contributions to chemistry before he died at the early age of 44. The image at the right is from a medal struck in Scheele's honor by the Academy of Sciences three years after his death. The reason for this is that there was for years no known authentic likeness of Scheele. However, a small painting of Scheele as a young man was finally discovered in 1929. |
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