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The year was 1774. Joseph Priestly was a scientist. Or at least, that's what he told anyone who asked why he spent so much time in the basement of his parent's home, in Wiltshire England. Joseph was not particularly bright for a scientist, and toiled in obscurity for his entire career, surrounded by beakers and bottles, graphs and gauges.

Joseph longed to be famous, and dreamed of one day making a monumental new discovery or invention, and the possibility of having his name attached to it for all time. It seemed everyone he knew was making new discoveries and inventing new things, then naming it after themselves. Everyone except Joseph. Just looking around his basement laboratory, he was constantly reminded of his own failures and the successes of others. His best friend Robert had achieved fame and fortune with his invention of the Bunson Burner. Another friend, Gregory Beaker, had recently invented a new type of heat resistant glass container. Even his nephew Petri had invented some stupid dish, and now a local guy named Pasteur was ordering them like crazy.

Outside his laboratory it was no better. His cousin, Jules Leotard was finding success designing his own line of women's clothing. And of course, there was Uncle Alexander Nauga, who, while studying abroad, had discovered a new type of hide, perfect for covering furniture. Heck, even Joseph's little sister Halley had discovered her own comet! Joseph was so humiliated. He had to discover something. Anything!

Joseph wearily sat down at his desk, let out a long sigh, and suddenly, it hit him! He began to scribble notes furiously! "H" equals this and "O" equals that and plus here and minus there and carry the decimal point and divide by Pi. He boiled water (stupid Bunson) and burned paper and scribbled more notes and equations for hours and hours until, at last, he had it all figured out. His great discovery. His monumental scientific achievement. His name would go down in history. Joseph Priestley had discovered... Oxygen.

Duh...Really? Not exactly impressed, are you? But, it's true. And although he was unsuccessful in his efforts to have it named after him, Joseph Priestly is nevertheless credited as the scientist who discovered the very air we breathe.

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