Peter Woulfe

Peter Woulfe (1727 – 1803) was an Irish chemist and mineralogist. He first had the idea that wolframite might contain a previously undiscovered element (tungsten).In 1771, Woulfe reported the formation of a yellow dye when indigo was treated with nitric acid. Later it was discovered by others that he had formed picric acid, which eventually was used as the first synthetic dye, an explosive and an antiseptic treatment for burns. Woulfe is credited with inventing, ca. 1767, the Woulfe Bottle, an apparatus for purifying or dissolving gases, which employed a bottle with two or three necks.