“In Earth’s crust, oxygen is more abundant than any other element. Oxygen was discovered in 1774 by the British chemist Joseph Priestly and, independently, by the Swedish Chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele; it was shown to be and elemental gas by the French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier in his classic experiments on combustion. The element’’s name was created by combining the Greek words oxys “acid” and genes “forming” because oxygen is a common component of acids.”
[from encarta.msn.com]
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