TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Oxygen Therapy and Toxicity A1 - Wemple, Matthew A1 - Swenson, Erik R A2 - Grippi, Michael A. A2 - Antin-Ozerkis, Danielle E. A2 - Dela Cruz, Charles S. A2 - Kotloff, Robert M. A2 - Kotton, Camille Nelson A2 - Pack, Allan I. PY - 2023 T2 - Fishman’s Pulmonary Diseases and Disorders, 6e AB - Oxygen was discovered in the late 18th century chiefly through the work of three scientists. Joseph Priestley, a minister in England, made his discovery after attempting to melt mercuric oxide using a magnifying glass and the sun’s rays. The vapor that was produced by this melting allowed a candle to burn brighter, and Priestley later discovered the vapor could be used in place of air to keep a mouse alive. He first published his findings in 1775. In a similar way to Priestley (i.e., by burning mercuric oxide), Carl Scheele, a pharmacist in Sweden, independently made the same discovery earlier in 1772, but did not publish his results until 1777.1 After being told about this new vapor during a 1774 visit to Paris by Joseph Priestley, the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier devised quantitative experiments that he used to prove the existence of this element and its role in combustion. He named the element “oxygen,” meaning “sharp-begetter”—“oxy” meaning sharp, “gen” meaning begetter—as he believed the element was a necessary element to form acids and published his research in 1777. Scheele beat Priestley by several years but was deprived of priority because Lavoisier denied receiving a letter Scheele later claimed to have sent in September 1774 describing his 1772 discovery of what he called “fire air.” Scheele’s claim of priority remained unconfirmed, until his missing letter (received on October 15, 1774) was finally made public in 1992 in Paris, 218 years later. It now resides at the French Academie de Sciences. Lavoisier’s guilt was kept secret in the effects of his wife and scientific assistant, Madame Lavoisier. Lavoisier failed on several occasions to credit either Priestley or Scheele for contributing to the one of the most important discoveries in the history of medicine and science.1 SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/28 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1195017579 ER -