Oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley, in Wiltshire, in 1774, and by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Uppsala, a year earlier.

NEWYORKER: In the Air

They were joined on occasions by James Watt, the engineer who fine-tuned the steam engine, and Joseph Priestley, a burning radical who discovered oxygen.

ECONOMIST: 18th-century science

Tucker likewise is suspicious of an account penned 14 years later by Franklin's disciple Joseph Priestley, who, though he wasn't present at the experiment, says it took place in June.

FORBES: Magazine Article