Daniel RutherfordFRSEFRCPEFLSFSA(Scot) (3 November 1749 – 15 November 1819) was a Scottish physician, chemist and botanist who is known for the isolation of nitrogen in 1772.
Around 1805 he moved from Hyndfords Close to a newly built townhouse at 20 Picardy Place at the top of Leith Walk, where he lived for the rest of his life.[9]
He died suddenly in Edinburgh on 15 November 1819. His sister died two days later and the second sister (Scott's mother) only seven days after the latter.[10]
Rutherford discovered nitrogen by the isolation of the particle in 1772.[12][13] When Joseph Black was studying the properties of carbon dioxide, he found that a candle would not burn in it. Black turned this problem over to his student at the time, Rutherford. Rutherford kept a mouse in a space with a confined quantity of air until it died. Then, he burned a candle in the remaining air until it went out. Afterwards, he burned phosphorus in that, until it would not burn. Then the air was passed through a carbon dioxide absorbing solution. The remaining component of the air did not support combustion, and a mouse could not live in it.
Rutherford called the gas (which we now know would have consisted primarily of nitrogen) "noxious air" or "phlogisticated air". Rutherford reported the experiment in 1772. He and Black were convinced of the validity of the phlogiston theory, so they explained their results in terms of it.
English translation: Leonard Dobbin (1935) "Daniel Rutherford's inaugural dissertation", Journal of Chemical Education, 12 (8): 370–375.
See also: James R. Marshall and Virginia L. Marshall (Spring 2015) "Rediscovery of the Elements: Daniel Rutherford, nitrogen, and the demise of phlogiston", The Hexagon (of Alpha Chi Sigma), 106 (1) : 4–8. Available on-line at: University of North Texas.