Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742 - 1786)

When a person is critically ill and suffocated, the doctor immediately inserts an oxygen tube into the patient's nose. The patient will soon pass through the air. This is called "oxygen exposure", which shows how important oxygen is to the human body. But who discovered this oxygen?

The person who discovered the oxygen was named Scheller. He is a famous Swedish chemist. Born on December 19, 1742 in Stralsson, Sweden. His family is very poor. At the age of 13, he became an apprentice in a pharmacy in Gothenburg and spent his spare time studying chemistry. Later, he worked as a pharmacist in pharmacies in Malmo, Stockholm and Uppsala. During this period, he and another young chemist conducted experiments on extracting tartaric acid from tartar, and wrote two papers and sent them to the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Because he was an ordinary pharmacist, the Swedish Academy of Sciences looked down on him and did not publish it. Undoubtedly, this was a big blow to the young Schaler. However, he was not discouraged and worked harder to engage in research work. After countless experiments, he finally discovered oxygen in 1773 and wrote the book "On Air and Fire." In 1774, he discovered chlorine again, which was confirmed by British chemist David, which further enhanced his confidence in studying chemistry.

In 1775, in order to better engage in research, Scheller resigned as a pharmacist and went to the small town of Koping to open his own pharmacy. Although he received some offers from Berlin and the United Kingdom, he never left the town. Here, he devoted himself to chemical research and discovered fluorine, ammonia, hydrogen chloride, hydrofluoric acid, tungstic acid, molybdenum acid and arsenic acid, etc., and made discoveries in many aspects of chemistry and made great contributions. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Scheler had a strange habit of personally "tasting" the chemical elements he discovered. Fortunately, he did not die of hydrogen cyanide poisoning. But he would not always have such good luck: judging by the symptoms of his death, it seemed that he had died of mercury poisoning. After Scheller's death, people in Sweden missed him very much. On the 150th and 200th birthdays, people held grand commemorative meetings for him. Such meetings also became a place for academic exchanges among chemists. Most of Scheller's posthumous works have been compiled and published. Commemorative statues have been built in his honor in both Corpin City and Stockholm. In front of his cemetery, there is a simple square tombstone. The embossed on the monument is a bodybuilding man holding a burning torch.