Carl Wilhelm Scheele

Hello! My name is Carl Wilhelm Scheele. My story starts on December 9th, 1742, in a town called Stralsund, which was then part of Swedish Pomerania. I was always fascinated by chemistry, especially in the apothecary, which is another word for a pharmacy. My father worked there, and to me, it was like a magical laboratory filled with colorful liquids and mysterious powders. When I was just 14 years old, in 1757, I moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, to become a pharmacist's apprentice. That was the real beginning of my journey into experiments and discovery. I enjoyed learning how to mix medicines for people, but I was even more interested in figuring out what everything was made of.

For many years, I worked as a pharmacy clerk, which meant I moved to different cities quite often. In 1765, I was working in Malmö, and just a few years later, in 1768, I had moved to Stockholm. But no matter where I lived, I always made sure to set up my own small laboratory. I would work long hours at the pharmacy during the day, and then, late at night, I would hurry to my lab to perform my own experiments. I read every chemistry book I could get my hands on and taught myself all about the tiny building blocks that make up our world. In 1770, I moved to a town called Uppsala, which had a big university. This turned out to be a wonderful time for me because I met a famous professor named Torbern Bergman. He noticed how passionate I was about chemistry and kindly gave me access to his laboratory. At last, I had a proper place to conduct my experiments and test all of my big ideas!

My time in Uppsala was incredibly busy and exciting. Between the years 1771 and 1772, I made what would become my most famous discovery. I found a special gas that was part of the very air we all breathe. When I did experiments with this gas, I noticed that it made candles burn much more brightly than usual. Because of this, I decided to call it 'fire-air.' Today, you know this important gas as oxygen! I wrote down everything about my discovery in a book called 'Chemical Treatise on Air and Fire,' but it took a very long time for my book to be printed. It wasn't published until 1777. Because of that long delay, another scientist named Joseph Priestley published his own findings about oxygen first, so he often gets the credit. But I know that I discovered it, too! Oxygen wasn't my only big find. I was also the first person to identify many other elements, including chlorine, manganese, and tungsten. I even discovered new acids, like the one that makes lemons taste sour, which you know as citric acid.

All of my hard work started to get noticed by other scientists. In 1775, I received a great honor when I was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. This was very unusual because I was a pharmacist who didn't have a formal university degree. I was so proud. In that same year, 1775, I achieved another one of my dreams. I bought my very own pharmacy in the small town of Köping. At last, I had my own business and my own laboratory where I could work whenever I wanted. I spent the rest of my life in Köping, happily running my pharmacy during the day and continuing my chemical experiments at night. I was always searching for the next secret that nature was waiting to reveal.

In my time, we scientists didn't understand how dangerous some chemicals could be. I had a bad habit of tasting and smelling the new substances I discovered, which we now know is very unsafe. This difficult work took a toll on my health. I lived to be 43 years old. Although I didn't always get the credit I deserved for my work while I was alive, I am still very proud of what I accomplished. I discovered more elements than almost any other person in history. My experiments helped build the foundation for the science of chemistry that students like you learn about all over the world today.