Joseph Priestley created revolutionary "maps" of time (neh.gov)

I always thought of Joseph Priestley as a strictly English figure and was surprised to learn that he spent his final years in Pennsylvania. Though Priestley discovered oxygen in England in 1774, a centennial gathering at his house in Pennsylvania in 1874 led to the founding of the American Chemical Society [1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chemical_Society#Hist...

> When the book’s plates required an illustrator, and he was unable to find a satisfactory one, he taught himself perspective drawing, then published a 1770 tutorial for aspiring artists titled A Familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective.

Shades of Knuth.

(For anyone unfamiliar with Donald Knuth’s prodigious dives into mathematical topography and related subjects, https://yakshav.es/the-patron-saint-of-yakshaves/ is a highly entertaining read. Even for those who are familiar it’s entertaining.)

Not to be confused with the novelist John Priestley, who also wrote about time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Priestley%27s_Time_Plays

Priestly also wrote about psychology, namely Hartley’s theory of association in the mind, which was based on electrical vibrations (following Newton).

> Priestley’s “Pyrmont water”—or what’s commonly known today as carbonated water—was an instant hit in England and France

So, it’s this guy’s fault that carbonated water became a thing?

> Take, for example, A Chart of Biography, which is considered to be the first modern timeline.

Huh, TIL. I made a timeline that shows all of time: https://www.timepasses.net

(not updated recently — really should get back to it)

Is it just me, but when I see a reference to a map of time, I get a vivid flashback to a scruffy band of little people pushing a bedroom wall back into a portal.