INDMJ’RIAL AND ENGINEERIN6 CHEMBSTRY LISHED BY THE A M E R I C A N C H E M I C A L S O C I E T Y ALTER J. M U R P H Y , E D I T O R
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The Priestley Medal
TFIB h e s p p m s c h a for the Atlantic City meeting of the dylaru~aarCHu0c.u SOCIETY, and the presentation dthe80Qlrrr’g&gheathonor,thePriestleyMedal,tothem ao*ned Brit& kganio chemist, Siu Ian Monis Heilbron, we Mesger to supplement our knowled@ of the man for whom k u m h ’ s mad outstsediogd in the broad 6eld of chemisby is w e d . The h m c s CHEncaL &am in un&&tally indebted to the hte Frsejs C. Phillip, of the Uniof Pittabu&, for 6ret caUing the attention of the Phdmtgh Seation of the Ammw C m c u Socum and htar of the M o d Socmm, to the serious la& of e5mt on tbe part of American chemiota to pe+tuste the memory of Riestky as a great investigator in the field of chemistry. AB a d t ofhie interest and enthuekm, the Council in April, 1018,appointed a committee to consider a Prietley Memorisl and designated Pmfeesor Phillip ea ita chairman. Activities toward funds for such a memorial were suspended during World War I and it wae not until April, 1922, that the committee presented its final report, and recommended that a medal, to be known ad) the Priestley Medal, be awarded. By a bit of coincidence, we have just received from J. V. N. Don a copy of Sir Harold Hartley‘s instructive and entertliaing lecture on Priestley, delivered at the Royal Society’s mom March 15, 1933, on the occasion of the bicentenary of cbe Mrth of the whaee theological opinions were described rather d h p m q z y by Samuel Johnson “88 tending to uneettle everythingand yet settle nothing”. Sir Harold speaks of Priestley, the minister and schoolmaster,aa “the mt pioneer in pneumatic chemistry. whose discoveries played BO important a part in.the revolution of chemicd thought at the end of the 18th century”. The exprrrsion “pneumatic chemistry” (meaning the chemistry of m)rarely, if ever, is used in thie country, but we must admit it is a eatisfactory generic term. Pridey’s 6rst scientifiocontributionof any importancewas ths publication in 1767of a “ J Z h r y of Electricity”. Most of tba material wae obtained from books belonging to Benjamin FranLLin, then in London trying to secure the repeal of the 8t.mpAet.hutinallf~itshouldberecordedthatPrie& ley independenuy contributed a number of remarkable experimente. Later in the enme year he moved to Leeds and lived (M he described it) “in a h o w that was contiguous to a htge common brewery”. Here he became interested in “6xed air” (carbon dioxide). The 6rst practical result of his early chemical investigations waa the invention of soda water. A study of the phenomena of combustion and respiration in qon6ned volumes of air and observation of the contraction in volume and the vitiation of the air led him to conclude that Nature must have Borne means for maintaining the purity of the atmosphere. Unfortunately, he could never quite free his mind of the phlogiston theory, and so he let the discovery of oxygen BLip t h n g h his iingera, not once but several times. F’ridey h e convinced ultimately that he had obtained a new species of air which he called “dephlogisticated air”, be-
c a w it &odd,as he claimed, take up more phlogiston than ordinary air, but it was left for Lsvoisier to sense that the gas discovered by Priestley wad) the finalclue he needed to explsnn the themy of combustion. In 1791 Priestley’s chapel was wrecked, his home burned, snd his papers and instruments destroyed by a Birmingham mob who feared and hated him for his espousal of libend idees and particularly for a pamphlet supporting the principles of the French Revolution. Three years later he came to America and ultimately settled in the little town of Northumberland on the bsnks of the Snsquehmna River in Pennsylvania. Hare he remained until his death in 1804. Unfortunately, Sir Harold’s otherwise excellent review does not dwell a t any length on Priestley’s life and work in America nor on the m n why the name “Priestley” was selected 6 be aasociatad with the highest award of the AMERICANCEEMIu SOCIETY. Bernard Jaffe’sfascinatingbook “Crucibles” tells of Pries& ley‘s discovery of carbon monoxide in 1799, and, ae m&ny A q members know, the first suggestion for a national moiety waa made on July 31, 1874, when the chemists of America -bled in Northumberland to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the discovery of oxygen by J m p h Priestley. The idea met with favor, and in 1876 at the Centennial in Philadelphia the h m c m CmYnCAfi SOCIETY was founded. The Priestley Medal of the AMERICANCHSUICAL SOCIETY has always had special international signiliwce. As C. A. Browne pointed out in 1921, in preaenting the Priestley portrait at the public meeting of the h m c ~ N C w w 8001ETYin New York,“The hold of Primtley upou the thoughb of Englihpeaking people is tremendousand it is destined to endure ae long ae the English language is spoken. He in one of those common pcswsions, which, belonging to England and America dike, work for unity of thought and feeling.” T h e internationel as@ of this medal have never been more significant thanat thismoment when it is being bestowed upon one of Great Britain’s foremost chemists. Science advances only when it is f m f r e e from the stifling iduenoea of political and geographical consideratiom, free from all artificial harriers. Scientists must strive for a world in which knowIedge belongs to all peoples-is not withheld by or fromany nation or group of nations. When such a philosophy prevails throughout the world, md only then, can we sny that we are of “One World”. Momentous deckions in world &airs are about to be reached. Will nations, will world leaders and ststeamen, continue to follow the pattern of the past with narrow nationalistic feam and desirea, inevitably leading to another world holocaust, or will good sense, good will, mutual trust, and complete understanding at the international level prevail? If the scientists could speak for thek mapective countries we know what the answer would be. The 1946 Priestley Medal award is a manifestation of the scientists’ viewpoint.
