Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) book Experiments on Air and
Fire in 1777, he argued that the atmosphere was composed of two
gases. One, which supported combustion (oxygen), he called "fire
air", and the other, which inhibited combustion (nitrogen), he
called "vitiated air". He thus anticipated Joseph Priestley's
discovery of oxygen by two years. Why is Carl Wilhelm Scheele
famous? Carl Wilhelm Scheele was a Swedish chemist and
pharmacist.