CHEMIST

Carl Wilhelm Scheele

1742 - 1786

Photo of Carl Wilhelm Scheele

Icon of person Carl Wilhelm Scheele

Carl Wilhelm Scheele (German: [ˈʃeːlə], Swedish: [ˈɧêːlɛ]; 9 December 1742 – 21 May 1786) was a German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist. Scheele discovered oxygen (although Joseph Priestley published his findings first), and identified the elements molybdenum, tungsten, barium, nitrogen, and chlorine, among others. Scheele discovered organic acids tartaric, oxalic, uric, lactic, and citric, as well as hydrofluoric, hydrocyanic, and arsenic acids. He preferred speaking German to Swedish his whole life, as German was commonly spoken among Swedish pharmacists. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Carl Wilhelm Scheele is the 29th most popular chemist (down from 13th in 2019), the 155th most popular biography from Germany (down from 117th in 2019) and the 7th most popular German Chemist.

Carl Wilhelm Scheele is most famous for discovering oxygen.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Carl Wilhelm Scheele by language

Loading...

Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, Carl Wilhelm Scheele ranks 29 out of 602. Before him are John Macleod, George Washington Carver, Fritz Haber, John Fenn, Friedrich Wöhler, and Wilhelm Ostwald. After him are Hans Adolf Krebs, Otto Wallach, Alexander R. Todd, Otto Hahn, Robert Robinson, and Henri Moissan.

Most Popular Chemists in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1742, Carl Wilhelm Scheele ranks 2. Before him is Pope Pius VII. After him are Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Yemelyan Pugachev, Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, James Wilson, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, Nicolas Leblanc, David Bushnell, Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier, and Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart. Among people deceased in 1786, Carl Wilhelm Scheele ranks 2. Before him is Frederick the Great. After him are Moses Mendelssohn, Peter III of Portugal, Maurice Benyovszky, Franz Benda, Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, John Goodricke, Eva Ekeblad, Gaspar de Portolá, Tokugawa Ieharu, and Princess Ernestine of Saxe-Weimar.

Others Born in 1742

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1786

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Carl Wilhelm Scheele ranks 155 out of 7,253. Before him are Frederick William IV of Prussia (1795), Friedrich Fröbel (1782), Alfred Wegener (1880), Friedrich Merz (1955), Friedrich Wöhler (1800), and Theodor W. Adorno (1903). After him are Hans Adolf Krebs (1900), Friedrich Hölderlin (1770), Lothair I (795), Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767), Walter Gropius (1883), and Queen Silvia of Sweden (1943).

Others born in Germany

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among CHEMISTS In Germany

Among chemists born in Germany, Carl Wilhelm Scheele ranks 7. Before him are Emil Fischer (1852), August Kekulé (1829), Adolf Windaus (1876), Ernst Chain (1906), Eduard Buchner (1860), and Friedrich Wöhler (1800). After him are Hans Adolf Krebs (1900), Otto Hahn (1879), Richard Willstätter (1872), Adolf von Baeyer (1835), Adolf Butenandt (1903), and Otto Diels (1876).

German born Chemists

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous