Joseph Priestley & Priestley Lunar Crater & 5577 Priestley Asteroid – Birstall, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 43.916 W 001° 39.592
30U E 588406 N 5954530
This statue in Birstall's Market Square is a slightly larger than life size figure of Joseph Priestley, who was one of the the first people to isolate Oxygen and more importantly publish his work.
Waymark Code: WMQ25K
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/04/2015
Views: 2
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (1733 - 1804) is usually credited with the discovery of oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state. Other scientists isolated it around the same time but Priestley was the first to publish his work.
The Ancient Greeks had thought that air was one of four elemental components of creation, the other three being earth, fire and water.
Priestley had always combined an interest in theology and science. To him science was integral to his theology, and he consistently tried to fuse Enlightenment rationalism with Christian beliefs.
In 1767 Priestley moved with his family from Warrington to Leeds and he became Mill Hill Chapel's minister, one of the oldest and most respected Dissenting congregations in England.
When he moved to Leeds, Priestley continued his scientific experiments, aided by a steady supply of carbon dioxide from a neighbouring brewery.
He used the supply of carbon dioxide in many experiments and one of his early successes was the discovery of the method of being able to trap the gas in a liquid. This carbonated water led to the foundation of the soft drink industry.
In 1774 he finally discovered a way of extracting oxygen from air. He actually called it “dephlogisticated air" but the name given by French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, Oxygen, is the one we use today. The above details were extracted from
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The Statue
This bronze statue stands in the Market Square in the centre of Birstall and celebrates the fact that Priestley was born in Birstall in 1733.
The statue stands on granite plinth and is a Historic England Grade II listed building
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It was sculpted by Frances Darlington and cast by A Parlatti in London. There is an inscription on the face of the granite base.
JOSEPH
PRIESTLEY
DISCOVERER
OF OXYGEN
AT FIELDHEAD
BIRSTALL
1733
ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION 1912
Priestley Lunar Crater
This crater is located in the low southern latitudes of the dark side of the moon and has a diameter of 52 km.
The bottom of the crater has a large lava flow within it and there are two small satellite craters. These are designated K and X and have diameters of 35km and 14km respectively.
It is the joint 711th largest crater on the moon. (calculated using data at this web site)
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5577 Priestley Asteroid
5577 Priestley (1986 WQ2) is an inner main-belt asteroid discovered on November 21, 1986 by Duncan Waldron at Siding Spring, Australia.
Named for Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), an English clergyman who was the first to publish an account of his discovery in 1774 of the element oxygen.
The number 5577, corresponding to the number of this minor planet, is also the wavelength in angstroms of the main emission line of green auroral light, due to triply-ionized oxygen.
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