Experiments Upon Magnesia Alba, Quicklime, and Some Other Alcaline Substances

Joseph Black was a Scottish physicist and chemist who made important distxteries about magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry at the University of Glasgow for ten years beginning in 1756, followed by Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh beginning in 1766, where he taught and lectured for over 30 years. The chemistry buildings at both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow are named for Black. Black was born "on the banks of the river Garonne" in Bordeaux, France, as the sixth of twelve children to Margaret Gordon and John Black. He was schooled at home until the age of 12, at which point he attended grammar school in Belfast. At the age of 18, he enrolled in the University of Glasgow, where he studied for four years before moving on to the University of Edinburgh to pursue his medical education. During his studies, he completed a doctorate thesis on the treatment of kidney stones with magnesium carbonate. His mother was from an Aberdeenshire family with connections to the wine industry, while his father was from Belfast, Ireland, and worked as a wine factor.