Joseph Priest was born on March 13, 1733 in a farm in Yorkshire, England. His father also worked wool clothes outside of the farm. Joseph was the biggest child in the family. He loved to listen to his father's songs while working. At the age of 4, Joseph had shown extraordinary memory: he could remember his father's songs and read long prayer words without effort. As the family continued to grow, life did not come into play, and as the eldest son, Joseph was given to his aunt Sara to raise. Aunt lived rich, Joseph did not have to work, and he could focus on school. Aunt decided to cultivate Joseph as a priest. Joseph's head was clever and very diligent. Linguistics and theology, he also read a lot of philosophical books. Since he was just 20 years old, Bob became famous.

Though he lived in poverty, he had plenty of time to spend on scientific research. He discovered that his knowledge was limited to philosophy, theology and linguistics, and began to study astronomy, physics and other sciences. The first thing that interested him was electrics. After publishing two volumes of The History of Electricity, he felt his lack of chemical knowledge and turned to chemistry.

He first became interested in air. He did not understand why a small mouse in a closed container would die a few days later. He thought that the clean air for the living organisms to breathe was polluted, and the living organisms would die in the polluted air. He experimented with plants. Put a bowl of flowers in a blanket and put a burning candle next to the bowl to ¡®pollute¡¯ the air. The candles quickly went out, but after a few hours, the plants were healthy. The next day, a flower grew again. Can plants purify the air?

Priestley repeatedly conducted experiments to determine the existence of several ¡®air¡¯ types. At the time, scientists called all gases air, and the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of candles and the breathing of animals was called ¡®fixed air¡¯. Priestley proved that carbon dioxide can be absorbed by water to form an acidic solution. This was Priestley¡¯s first chemical achievement ¨C making soda water. For this invention, he was awarded the highest prize of the Royal Society of England ¨C the Copley Medal.

Priestley also proved that plants absorb ¡°fixed air¡± and emit ¡°living air¡± (oxygen). He became the discoverer of plants ¡°photosynthesis¡±. In subsequent experiments, he also produced nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen chloride, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride, silicon fluoride, carbon monoxide and other gases.

Many of the experiments with gases were first made by humans, and he provided important data for laying the theoretical foundations of modern chemistry, which greatly advanced the 18th century free thought and experimental science.