When and where was Joseph Priestley born?
Joseph Priestley was born in Birstall, West Yorkshire on the 24th of March 1733. He grew up as the oldest of six children to Mary Swift and Jonas Priestley.
Questions about Joseph Priestley
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What did Joseph Priestley discover about electricity?
Joseph Priestley demonstrated that electrical force followed an inverse-square law similar to Newton's law of universal gravitation. His experiments showed a continuum between conductors and non-conductors and overturned the maxim that only water and metals could conduct electricity.
How did Joseph Priestley describe oxygen gas?
Joseph Priestley called his new substance dephlogisticated air which we now know as oxygen gas. He found it five or six times better than common air for respiration and inflammation after testing it on mice and himself.
Why did Joseph Priestley flee to the United States?
Joseph Priestley fled to Northumberland County Pennsylvania because rioters burned his home Fairhill at Sparkbrook during the Birmingham riots on Bastille Day in July 1791. Local magistrates planned these attacks and King George III expressed pleasure that Priestley suffered for his doctrines.
What political views did Joseph Priestley hold regarding government?
Joseph Priestley argued that government should control only the public sphere while education and religion remained matters of private conscience. He defended the rights of Dissenters against William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England and supported repealing the Test and Corporation Acts.