Carl Wilhelm Scheele (9 December 1742 – 21 May 1786) was a
Swedish Pomeranian and pharmaceutical chemist.
Isaac Asimov called him "hard-luck Scheele" because he made a number of chemical discoveries before others who are generally given the credit. For example, Scheele discovered
oxygen (although
Joseph Priestley published his findings first), and identified
molybdenum,
tungsten,
barium, hydrogen, and
chlorine before
Humphry Davy, among others. Scheele discovered organic acids
tartaric,
oxalic,
uric,
lactic, and
citric, as well as
hydrofluoric,
hydrocyanic, and
arsenic acids. He preferred speaking German to Swedish his whole life, as German was commonly spoken among Swedish pharmacists.