| |
RARE TEXTS REVEAL THE HISTORY OF OXYGEN’S DISCOVERY
27 February 2000 - University of Wisconsin-Madison
| Competition and contention were present in abundance in the "discovery" of oxygen, and two special collections in the University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries tell much of this lively piece of 18th-century history. |
Competition and contention were present in abundance in the "discovery" of oxygen, and two special collections in the University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries tell much of this lively piece of 18th-century history. The exhibit offers original works of the three scientists who relatively independently and simultaneously discovered "fire air" Joseph Priestley of England, Antoine Lavoisier of France and Karl Wilhelm Scheele of Sweden. The exhibit places Priestley's ingenious Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air (1774-1777) alongside an extraordinarily rare first edition of Scheele's treatise (1777) describing his independent discovery of oxygen. Priestley's meeting with Lavoisier prompted the latter to repeat and extend Priestley's experiments, and to place the concept of oxygen at the center of what historians have called the Chemical Revolution. Lavoisier's own copy of the second edition of his influential treatise on chemistry (1793) will also be on display, together with other rare books and unique manuscripts from the Duveen Collection on alchemy and early chemistry and the Cole Collection of 18th- and 19th-century chemistry. The library also will display some of the poetry and fiction writings of the contemporary and eminent chemists, Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann, a Nobel laureate, who together wrote the play Oxygen. The play focuses on the culture of science today and in the 17th century when oxygen was discovered.
http://www.wisc.edu
About: University of Wisconsin-Madison
In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as one of America’s great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Many of its programs are hailed as world leaders in instruction, research and public service.The university traces its roots to a clause in the Wisconsin Constitution, which decreed that the state should have a prominent public university. In 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin’s first governor, signed the act that formally created the university, and its first class, with 17 students, met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849. From those humble beginnings, the university has grown into a large, diverse community, with about 40,000 students enrolled each year. These students represent every state in the nation, as well as countries from around the globe, making for a truly international population. UW-Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Wisconsin System, a statewide network of 13 comprehensive universities, 13 freshman-sophomore transfer colleges and an extension service. One of two doctorate-granting universities in the system, UW-Madison’s specific mission is to provide "a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help insure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all." The university achieves these ends through innovative programs of research, teaching and public service. Throughout its history, UW-Madison has sought to bring the power of learning into the daily lives of its students through innovations such as residential learning communities and service-learning opportunities. Students also participate freely in research, which has led to life-improving inventions from more fuel-efficient engines to cutting-edge genetic therapies. Students, faculty and staff are motivated by a tradition known as the "Wisconsin Idea," described by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904 as the compelling need to carry "the beneficent influence of the university ... to every home in the state." The Wisconsin Idea permeates the university’s work and helps forge close working relationships among university faculty and students and the state’s industries and government. |
More News:
• For February 2000
• From University of Wisconsin-Madison
• For University
|
