Apr 16, 2023
Joseph Black was born on April 16, 1728. A Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. The chemistry buildings at both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow are named after him. He was a professor at both. Like most 18th-century experimentalists, Black's concept of chemistry was based on five principles of matter: Water, Salt, Earth, Fire, and Metal. He added the principle of Air when his experiments showed the presence of carbon dioxide, which he called fixed air, thus contributing to pneumatic chemistry.
