Priestley emigratesIn 1794, chemist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) forever left England and travelled to the United States. The previous year, on 14 Jul 1791, his laboratory, home and library were burned to destruction by a mob of people angry at his support of the French Revolution. His French colleague, Antoine Lavoisier, was executed a week after he left England. Priestley's discovery of oxygen was 20 years earlier, on 1 Aug 1774. During the last years of his life in America he spent his time quietly writing, and furthering the cause of Unitarianism in the new nation. |