Joseph Priestley

Scientist, educator, religious scholar, and political liberal, Joseph Priestley was a vigorous and controversial figure in a turbulent and exciting age. most famous as a scientist—he is commonly credited with the discovery of oxygen—his real interest lay in the world of ideas. He was influential in the development of Unitarianism, and his dissenting opinions on the fundamental assumptions of the eighteenth century were a constant source of irritation in religious, educational, and political circles.

After his house and laboratory were burned by a mob during the Birmingham riots of 1791, Priestley left England and settled in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where he continued his writing. His long-standing sympathy for the American cause led him into close associations with Jefferson, Franklin, and other leaders in the experiment in democracy.

The memoirs, lectures, essays, and letters in this book, all long out of print, were selected from an unusually good collection of Priestley materials in the Pattee Library at The Pennsylvania State University. They reveal Joseph Priestley as a sincere, intelligent man who tackled controversial subjects with rare courage, believing that the truth can prevail only in a free market of ideas. A representative sampling of the works of this prolific eighteenth-century scholar, scientist, and religious thinker whose books have long been out of print.