The Swedish pharmacist and chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) discovered chlorine and oxygen and isolated and characterized a variety of organic acids.

Karl Wilhelm Scheele was born on Dec. 9, 1742, at Stralsund in Swedish Pomerania. His formal education ended at age 14, when he was apprenticed to a pharmacist in Gothenburg. In this shop Scheele's scientific education began. Here was at hand a treasury of chemical materials and apparatus which excited the curiosity and latent talents of the young apprentice. In addition, he had access to his master's library, which included many of the most noteworthy chemical works of the 18th century.

Following 8 years' apprenticeship in Gothenburg, Scheele moved to Malmö as an apothecary clerk. Again he was fortunate in his master, who allowed him facilities and time for research. In Malmö, Scheele's talents received their first recognition in the person of Anders Johan Retzius, who was later...