National Records of Scotland

Preserving the past, Recording the present, Informing the future

Joseph Black (1728-1799)

Joseph Black (1728-1799)

Chemist and physicist

Joseph Black was born in Bordeaux. His mother was Scottish and his father, a wine merchant, was Irish. He attended university at both Glasgow and Edinburgh from the age of sixteen. He graduated as a doctor of medicine and it was in his thesis that he first described what would later be known as carbon dioxide. His academic career included the posts of professor of anatomy and chemistry at Glasgow University as well as medicine and chemistry at Edinburgh. His discovery of specific and latent heat were greatly to influence his pupil, James Watt.

Death in 1799

Joseph Black was buried on 12 December 1799 in Greyfriars Churchyard. The entry in the Old Parish Register (OPR) for Edinburgh gives his designation as Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh.

Burial entry for Joseph Black

Burial entry for Joseph Black in the OPR for Edinburgh (39 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, OPR 685/1, 98

Testament of Dr Joseph Black

National Records of Scotland, CC8/8/131 pp 1269-1297

View transcript (98 KB PDF)

The images of the original document are in jpeg format (approximately 150 KB):

View page 1 of the actual document
View page 2 of the actual document
View page 3 of the actual document
View page 4 of the actual document
View page 5 of the actual document
View page 6 of the actual document
View page 7 of the actual document
View page 8 of the actual document
View page 9 of the actual document
View page 10 of the actual document

View page 11 of the actual document
View page 12 of the actual document
View page 13 of the actual document
View page 14 of the actual document
View page 15 of the actual document
View page 16 of the actual document
View page 17 of the actual document
View page 18 of the actual document
View page 19 of the actual document
View page 20 of the actual document

View page 21 of the actual document
View page 22 of the actual document
View page 23 of the actual document
View page 24 of the actual document
View page 25 of the actual document
View page 26 of the actual document
View page 27 of the actual document
View page 28 of the actual document
View page 29 of the actual document