A person who opposed the phlogiston theory of combustion; a scientist who rejected the idea that a substance called phlogiston caused things to burn.
From anti- (against) + phlogiston (from Greek phlogistos, 'inflamed') + -ian (person). The term emerged in 18th-century chemistry when the phlogiston theory was being replaced by oxidation theory.
Antiphlogistians were actually the *right* ones—phlogiston was completely fake, yet entire scientific communities believed in it until oxygen was discovered, showing how hard it is to overturn bad theories.
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