If anyone tell you that all you need to do to succeed is workplace firmly , just mention Carl Wilhelm Scheele . They ’ll say , “ Who ? ” And your item will be try . This may be the most accomplished apothecary never to get credit for anything — except possibly accidentally kill a dictator .
Carl Scheeledidn’t have a uncollectible life history . Other than die young — although forty - three was a fairly decent eld for a pill pusher in the 1700s — he meet with relatively piffling calamity . Born to a wealthy and topically prominent family in 1742 in what is now Germany , he was tutor by educated friend of his male parent . Eventually he became an pharmacist , which allowed him to pursue his interest group in interpersonal chemistry . The mass around him recognized his scientific talent , and he was elect to the Royal Swedish Academy of Science , though he did n’t go to meetings .
That was a misunderstanding . So was his hesitation to publicise his work . Scheeledevised a wayto study the property of organic Elvis , precipitate them with lead or Ca salts before break up them again in new acids . By working steady and cautiously , he expose twelve different loony toons . He turned his aid to metals and isolated several of them , including barium and molybdenum .
Most imposingly , he was able-bodied to sequester oxygen well before the much - more - famous Joseph Priestley . He ’s not as well remembered because he did n’t publish until after Joseph Priestley . In fact , due to his lack of striking among academic scientists and his relatively early death , he has n’t obtain proper credit rating for nearly all of his discoveries .
Except one . Carl Scheele managed to keep his name attached toScheele ’s green . Mix sodium carbonate and arsenic oxide together in a solution and you get atomic number 11 arsenic — a combining of Na , arsenic , and atomic number 8 . That gets miscellaneous in with copper sulfate to get a copper arsenite precipitate which can cheaply and easy dye material green .
Scheele ’s green became a famous , and then an infamous , pigment , because of the presence of arsenic . The first of its potential victims was Scheele himself . Like most 18th century apothecary , he taste his own initiation . The dye poison mass well into priggish times .
In 1982 , British pharmacist David Jones famouslyspeculated that the fleeceable wallpaperhung in Napoleon ’s residence in St. Helena poison him with arsenic and led to his demise . The possibility is much - disputed , but also very popular . Which make Carl Scheele ’s account the staring elbow room to illustrate that hard work and real accomplishment are worth little if you do n’t have popularity on your side .
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