To Carl Wilhelm Scheele, one of the first true chemists, who did so much with so little.
As a practicing pharmacist without access to the advanced laboratory equipment available
to many of his contemporaries, Scheele discovered numerous chemical elements and
compounds—including oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, barium, manganese, molybdenum,
tungsten, citric acid, glycerol, the pigment Scheele's Green (cupric hydrogen arsenite),
and many others—debunked the phlogiston theory, and was among the first to establish
the rigorous, standardized, consistent quantitative procedures that are the hallmark of
modern chemistry. Scheele died at age 43, apparently from mercury poisoning contracted
as a result of his unfortunate habit of tasting the new compounds he prepared.Carl Wilhelm Scheele
(1742 – 1786)Dedication