The Invention of Air
by Steven Johnson
Published 2009
This book is more than just a history of Joseph Priestly, amateur scientist, minister and radical thinker, than a description of the discovery of oxygen. It places him in the age of enlightenment, where science was not the preserve of professionals, but it was the preserve of people who had the time to observe the surrounding world. It places him at a time when Coffee Houses were a hot bed of discussions on all subjects and a network for passing on information on scientific experimentation.
The book also asks the question of why all this was going on then. Why were the questions being asked and answers found. It takes us back in history to when plants developed lignin, which could stiffen them, help them to grow larger, but which could not be digested by anything around then. Hence, when the plants died, they fell to the ground and lay there, this became the foundation of the coal seams, gas and oil deposits a source of energy which was later to power the industrial revolution which helped to provide the finance for Joseph Priestley’s experiments.
It is an interesting book, though not the easiest of reads. It draws connections between politics, science and religion. It shows that even someone as dedicated to discovery as Joseph Priestley, could not ignore the world around him, the French Revolution and the American War of Independence affected the people with whom he would discuss his latest experiments.
