Rather interesting Calne facts
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Did you know that Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen on August 1 1774 at Bowood House near Calne? He worked there as librarian to the Earl of Shelbourne and tutor to his sons, and was provided with a room off the library as a laboratory. He separated oxygen from mercury oxide, using the sun’s rays focused through a magnifying glass to heat the substance and produce what he named dephlogisticated air, which made a candle burn more brightly than in ordinary air.
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