Joseph Priestly obtains water by igniting the gas now known to be hydrogen in oxygen in 1781; improvements by the English theologian and scientist in the manipulation of gases have enabled him to investigate the properties of phlogiston.

French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, repeating the experiments of English chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish, coins the word hydrogéne for the gas.

Quickly accepted by the scientific community, the element's name combines Greek hydro, water, with gen, bearing or forming.