--- title: "Who discover Oxygen?" description: "Who discover Oxygen?" author: "Harsh Srivastava" published: 2018-08-30 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49173/who-discover-oxygen category: "innovation, discovery and technology" tags: ["innovation, discovery and technology"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # Who discover Oxygen? Who discover Oxygen?\ \ \ ## Answers ### Answer by UTKARSHA SINGHROUL **The credit of discovering the [Oxygen](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/39561/are-there-any-hydrogen-chemical-compounds-that-s-don-t-have-carbon-or-oxygen) was given to “Joseph Priestley” in the year 1774.** ![Who discover Oxygen?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/9dd3db0c-1fcd-40f3-b56c-46bb275d07cb/images/f0432dcb-2f0a-4741-9519-205db92d2857.jpeg)**\**The Oxygen was invented by **‘Joseph Priestley’ and ‘Carl Wilhelm Scheele’ both but independently**. Whereas, Priestley was given the credit for the discovery of Oxygen. They both succeeded in producing the Oxygen by heating Mercuric Oxide (HgO). They both called the gas with different names. **Priestley called it ‘dephlogisticated air’ whereas, Scheele called it ‘fire air’**. So, the credit for **naming the air as Oxygen was coined by “Antoine Lavoisier”.** Joseph Priestley started his scientific career in the mid of the 1760s. Later, he started to write his work and named the book ‘History and the Present State of Electricity’. For this work, he took help from many peoples like [Benjamin Franklin](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/42738/what-was-benjamin-franklin-s-role-in-the-revolutionary-war), William Watson, and John Canton. Side by side of writing, he carried out various experiments as well. One of the experiment was, **‘Demonstration of the Inverse Square Law of Electrostatics’**. After few years, he joined the service in ‘Earl of Shelburne’ in the year 1773. During this phase of working, he discovered Oxygen. Then, in 1775, he published his paper in the ‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society’. In the paper, he explained about the gas as it has amazing strength of flame. Priestly **also invented, ‘Carbonated Water, the [Rubber](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49219/who-invented-the-rubber-vulcanised) Eraser, identified many key chemical compounds,** not only this, he even **published an important paper about the [Electricity](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/33905/which-element-is-the-highest-conductor-of-electricity).** Oxygen is a highly reactive element and has a special capability of combining with almost every element. Almost every living organism require oxygen to breathe and live. The oxygen in liquid form, when combined with liquid hydrogen, makes an excellent Rocket Fuel. The Protective Layer around the Earth i.e. Ozone Layer is made up of O3 which saves the earth surface from harmful rays and Ultraviolet Rays. The **[Atomic Number](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/39530/why-are-extra-neutrons-needed-for-stability-in-atoms-with-a-high-atomic-number) of Oxygen is 8**. --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49173/who-discover-oxygen Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.