The air's 'food of life' (Sendivogius)
«Alimento de la vida» del aire (Sędziwój)
- Date
- 1604 · confidence medium
- Place
- Prague, Bohemia, Czechia
- Credited to
- Michał Sędziwój (Michael Sendivogius)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
In his 1604 treatise the Polish alchemist claimed that air contains a 'food of life' (cibus vitae) identical to a substance released when nitre is heated. He is regarded as a forerunner of the discovery of oxygen by almost two centuries.
Reading Sędziwój as the discoverer of oxygen is retrospective: his text is alchemical and does not isolate or characterise the gas. He is recognised only as a forerunner; the experimental discovery belongs to Scheele and Priestley (1770s).
What it led to
- the idea that air is not a single substance, spread through European alchemy
- interest in nitre as the source of the gas sustaining life and combustion
- a forerunner cited by Polish historiography for the oxygen of Scheele and Priestley