Experimental results regarding the properties of saltpetre and acetic acid brought a young pharmacist into the inner circle of Sweden’s academic elite during the 1770s. While working in the quiet towns of Uppsala and Köping, Carl Wilhelm Scheele systematically isolated multiple elements and organic acids, contributing foundational data that shifted chemistry from natural philosophy toward a rigorous, cumulative scientific discipline.
Early Apprenticeship and Self-Directed Study
Born in 1742 in Stralsund, Scheele began his professional life in 1757 as an apprentice to Martin Andreas Bauch in Gothenburg. During his eight-year tenure, he engaged in extensive nocturnal experiments and read foundational texts by researchers such as Georg Ernst Stahl. This period of intense self-instruction provided the theoretical basis for his later work. By 1765, he relocated to Malmö to serve under C. M. Kjellström, where he established a productive intellectual partnership with Anders Jahan Retzius.
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Scheele moved to Uppsala in 1770 to manage the laboratory of a prominent pharmacy. He gained access to sophisticated research conditions through a partnership with the chemist Torbern Bergman. After resolving a complex reaction involving saltpetre and acetic acid that had baffled Bergman, Scheele earned the professor's professional trust. This environment allowed him to focus on the properties of air, specifically investigating how gases interacted with burning materials under the prevailing phlogiston framework.
Chemical Identifications and Recognition
Throughout his career, Scheele successfully isolated a wide range of chemical substances, including oxygen, molybdenum, tungsten, barium, nitrogen, and chlorine. His organic acid research identified tartaric, oxalic, uric, lactic, and citric acids. Despite his technical output, he remained a practitioner of the phlogiston theory, describing oxygen as "fire air." His findings were occasionally delayed in publication, leading to shared credit with contemporaries like Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier.
Professional Standing and Final Years
Elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1775, Scheele also held memberships in international institutions, including the Academy of Sciences of Turin and the Academy of Science for Public Utility. In 1777, he passed the apothecary examination before the Royal Medical College with high honours. He established an independent pharmacy in Köping, where he continued his research until his death in 1786 at the age of 44, which doctors attributed to mercury poisoning.
Fast facts
- Born: 1742, Stralsund
- Died: 1786, Köping
- Primary Occupations: Pharmacist, chemist, pharmacologist
- Key Elements Isolated: Oxygen, molybdenum, tungsten, barium, nitrogen, chlorine
- Academic Membership: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- Languages: German (primary), Swedish
Questions readers ask
Why did Scheele fail to get primary credit for discovering oxygen?
Although he isolated the gas first, his publication was delayed until 1777, by which time Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier had already released their own findings.
What was the cause of Scheele's death?
Medical professionals concluded that he died from mercury poisoning, likely due to his lifelong engagement with chemical substances.
Achievements
- Educated at Uppsala University
- Fields of research: chemistry
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