<img alt=“priestley two.jpg” src=“https://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/priestley%20two.jpg” width=“183” height=“235” border=“0” align=“right” hspace=“10px”//>The historic home of chemist Joseph Priestley may soon close to the public due to budget cuts.

Priestley is famous chiefly for his work on oxygen, and many a historian of science has considered whether he or French rival Antoine Lavoisier should be accorded the honor of being named as its discoverer*. After being hounded out of England, he ended up in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where the Joseph Priestley House is now a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Chemical Landmark.

However, a notice on the house’s website says that a new report from the PA Historic and Museum Commission is recommending “discontinuing operation of the Priestley House”.

Commission executive director Barbara Franco told C&EN, “We’re not going to walk away from it and let it deteriorate. We are asking ourselves, ’Who cares about this site? Who will help us solve this problem?’”

As a citizen of the country that burned Priestley’s previous house, in Birmignham, England, I plead with you America: save the Priestley house.

• Yes, I know about Carl Scheele too.

Image: Priestley, via Wikipedia.