Scheele Karl Wilhelm

(09.12.1742 - 21.05.1786)

Swedish chemist-pharmacist. He isolated and researched many chemical compounds, and also became the pioneer of several chemical elements, in particular, oxygen.

Born in the city of Stralsund in Pomerania, which at that time was part of Sweden, in the family of a brewer and a grain merchant.

He studied at a private school in Stralsund, but in 1757 he moved to Gothenburg. Since the parents did not have the means to give him a higher education (Karl was the seventh son in the family), he became an apprentice pharmacist and was actively engaged in self-education. Working in a pharmacy, Scheele achieved great art in a chemical experiment. After working for eight years in Gothenburg, Scheele moved to Malmo, where he could do research in the pharmacist's laboratory in the evenings. Scheele then worked in pharmacies in Stockholm and Uppsala, and finally, in 1775, he bought a pharmacy in Chepping, where he did research until the end of his life. Thus, he made a great contribution to the development of chemistry.

Glory Scheele as an outstanding experimenter has spread far beyond Sweden; Prussian king Frederick II invited him to take the chair of chemistry at the University of Berlin, but Scheele declined the invitation. In 1775, for his outstanding achievements in the field of chemistry, he was elected a full member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, becoming the only scientist who received this honor without having a higher education.

Scheele owns the discovery of many inorganic and organic substances. In 1774, he showed that pyrolusite, previously considered a kind of magnetic iron ore, is a compound of an unknown metal. At the same time, in the interaction of hydrochloric acid and pyrolusite, chlorine was first produced by heating. Later they obtained molybdenum trioxide (1778) and tungsten trioxide (1781) from natural minerals of molybdenite and tungsthen (scheelite). In 1779, Scheele received glycerol for the first time by the action of lead fiber on vegetable and animal fats.

They also discovered silicon tetrafluoride (1771), barium oxide (1774), arsenic hydrogen (1775), tartaric (1769), hydroxyfluoride cream, hydrogen fluoride (1771), arsenic (1775), oxalic, urinary (1776), milky (1780), hydrocyanic (1782) acid.

In 1769, Scheele developed a method for the production of phosphorus from ash formed during the burning of bones. In 1774, Scheele isolated manganese and barium oxide in free form; described in detail the properties of chlorine. In 1775, he discovered arsenic hydrogen and arsenic acid, and in 1777 he obtained and investigated hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur compounds. In 1777, simultaneously with Felice Fontana, he discovered the ability of freshly rolled charcoal to absorb gases. In his work The Chemical Treatise on Air and Fire, Scheele described the production and properties of “fiery air” and indicated that atmospheric air consists of two “types of air”: “fiery” - oxygen and “phlogous” - nitrogen. Despite the fact that for the first time in history he received oxygen in the laboratory, the priority of the discovery of oxygen belongs to Joseph Priestley (1774), since Scheele's work was published only in 1777. Scheele first received and investigated potassium permanganate KMnO ₄ - the well-known "manganese", which is now widely used in chemical experiments and in medicine, discovered hydrogen sulfide H2S.

Cheele's curious passion tasted everything he dealt with (according to other sources, in those years, when describing a substance, it was necessary to specify his taste and smell), cost him his life. In 1786, he was found dead in his workplace, surrounded by a mass of poisonous reagents on the day of his wedding (he never had time to marry); some sources attribute his death to hydrocyanic acid.

During his visit to Paris by the Swedish king Gustav III, a delegation of French scientists came to him and expressed his respect for the work in Sweden of the outstanding chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele, who discovered many organic and inorganic substances. Since the king had never heard of Scheele, he escaped with general phrases, and then immediately issued an order to erect a chemist in the knightly dignity. However, the Prime Minister also did not know the scientist, and as a result, the title of count fell to another Scheele, the lieutenant of artillery, and the chemist remained unknown to the king and courtiers.

He died in Koping, Westmanland, Sweden.

Mountain 1206 m high and a glacier in the north-east of the Nathorst  Land,  West Svalbard Island. The coordinates are 77° 43.8'N   17° 00'E.