Joseph Priestly

Next Sunday, May 17, Jeff Wardeska will give us a presentation on Joseph Priestly. I knew that Jeff had read the biography that came out recently, "The invention of air" by Steven Johnson, so I asked for this presentation. Thanks Jeff, for agreeing.

Priestly has been referred to as one of the people whose ideas changed the world. Priestly was one of the intellectual pillars of the "age of enlightenment", and according to the biography, was the "most hated man in all Britain." After coming to the US became friends with some of our favorite founders. Priestly was a social liberal, a free thinker, a libertarian, and a debunker of blind authortarianism. Priestly's contemporary, the renown conservative Samuel Johnson called him and "evil man." Geez, this sounds so modern.


Here's a Youtube video interview with Steven Johnson that's worth a 5-minute watch. The message is cogent statement about the value-system that establishes a wisdom-based relationship between science, religion and politics.




Here's Jeff synopsis:

"Joseph Priestley (1733 - 1804), while widely recognized as the discoverer of oxygen, was a leading intellectual of the 18th century, influencing many fields and setting the stage for many of our modern ideas in science, religion, as well as helping to shape the course of the fledgling United States. Thomas Jefferson once commented it was Priestley's writing that convinced him remain a Christian. However, he was a contoversial figure, one who narrowly escaped from a mob who burned his home and laboratory."

And a brief bio on our speaker:

"Jeff Wardeska has taught in the Chemistry Department at ETSU for many years and served as department chair since 2000. He is an inorganic chemist and is interested in the role of trace elements in living organisms. He and Brenda have been members of 1st Presbyterian Church, Elizabethton, since 1996."


Please join us at 9:45 in Elizabethton for this fascinating topic. We'll be glad to have you.