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Chemistry, as it is taught in schools, often feels like a tedious subject, requiring the memorization of numerous numbers and chemical reactions. However, this doesn't have to be the case. In fact, there are countless captivating stories about the early exploration of the elements on the periodic table. The history of chemistry is filled with intriguing moments.
10. Seven Elements Discovered in One Mine
Ytterbium, yttrium, terbium, and erbium—they're tricky to pronounce, but there's a reason they come as a group. These four elements were discovered in a surprisingly unconventional way, all deriving their names from the quartz quarry in Ytterby, Sweden, where they were uncovered. The quarry is renowned as a veritable gold mine for discovering new elements. Other elements such as gadolinium, holmium, lutetium, scandium, tantalum, and thulium were also found there. If this sounds like it could be confusing, you’re right—it certainly was.
In 1843, Swedish chemist Carl Gustaf Mosander took gadolinite and divided it into the rare-Earth materials yttria, erbia, and terbia. But when he published his findings, a translation mix-up occurred, and erbia was mistakenly renamed terbia, while terbia was called erbia. In 1878, the newly named erbia was further separated into two parts—ytterbia and another form of erbia. It was believed that ytterbia contained a new element, which was subsequently named ytterbium. This compound was later split into two elements: neoytterbium and lutecium. Confused yet? Well, neoytterbium was eventually renamed to plain old ytterbium, and lutecium became luteium.
The result of the discoveries at the Ytterby quarry was a collection of elements uncovered for a few key reasons. The mine was particularly fruitful, thanks to the effects of glacier movement from the last ice age. In an interesting coincidence, the mine had originally been opened to extract feldspar, which had recently been recognized as an essential component in the creation of porcelain. The art of porcelain making had long been a secret of the Far East, until some alchemists got involved. The Ytterby mine was opened to meet the increasing demand for porcelain, and chemist Johan Gadolin (who gave his name to some of the minerals) was working there due to his friendship with an English porcelain maker.
9. Barium Was Once Mistaken for Witchcraft
Today, barium is a fairly common element, used to make paper whiter, paints more vibrant, and as a contrast agent for X-rays, helping to highlight issues with the digestive system. But in the Middle Ages, it was known for quite a different reason. Smooth stones, mostly found around Bologna, Italy, were highly sought after by witches and alchemists due to their remarkable ability to glow in the dark after only brief exposure to light.
In the 1600s, the Bologna stones were even thought to be philosopher’s stones. These stones had intriguing properties: when heated, they emitted a strange red glow. A few minutes of sunlight exposure would make them glow for hours. Vincentius Casciorolus, a shoemaker and amateur alchemist, experimented with the stones, attempting everything from turning metals into gold to creating a potion for immortality. Sadly, he failed. For nearly 200 years, the stone remained an odd curiosity, linked with the mysteries of witchcraft.
It wasn’t until 1774, when Carl Scheele (famous for Scheele’s green) was studying Earth metals, that barium was finally identified as a distinct element. Initially calling it terra ponderosa, or “heavy earth,” it wasn’t until several decades later that an English chemist would successfully isolate and identify the element responsible for the glow in the witches' stones.
8. Coincidental Helium
Scientific history is full of moments where people compete to be the first to document or explain something, but the discovery of helium resulted in an unusual tie.
In the late 19th century, the scientific community was just beginning to study the Sun’s emissions, and they believed the best—perhaps only—way to do so was by observing it during a solar eclipse. In 1868, Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen traveled to India to witness the eclipse and noticed something unusual—a yellow light previously unknown. Determined to understand it, he built the spectrohelioscope to observe the Sun’s emissions during daylight.
In an uncanny twist of fate, an English astronomer was conducting the exact same experiment at the same time, halfway across the world. Joseph Norman Lockyer, too, was studying the Sun’s emissions during the day and also observed the mysterious yellow light.
Both astronomers wrote papers on their discoveries and submitted them to the French Academy of Sciences. The papers arrived on the very same day, and although their findings were initially met with skepticism, they were eventually confirmed, and the two astronomers shared credit for the find.
7. The Great Name Debate
Many element names and symbols seem mismatched, but that’s often because the symbol is derived from a Latin translation, like gold’s “Au.” Tungsten is an exception, with the symbol “W.”
The reason for this difference lies in the element having two names for a long time. English speakers called it “tungsten,” while others referred to it as “wolfram” for an interesting reason: Tungsten was first isolated from the mineral wolframite, and in some regions, it kept its old name until 2005. Even then, it didn’t surrender without resistance, with Spanish chemists in particular arguing that “wolfram” should not be excluded from the official records for tungsten.
In fact, in most languages besides English, “wolfram” remained in use, and it was the name requested by the Delhuyar brothers, who discovered it. The term comes from the German word for “wolf’s foam,” dating back to the early days of tin smelting. Before understanding the elements, smelters identified a specific mineral by how it foamed when heated. They named it “wolf’s foam” because they believed it consumed the tin they were trying to extract in the same way a wolf devours its prey. Today, we know the high tungsten content in the ore is responsible, but chemists fought for years to keep the name. Ultimately, they lost, but the symbol for tungsten remains “W.”
6. Neon Lights Predate Neon
Broadway and Las Vegas are iconic for their dazzling neon lights, but interestingly, the creation of neon lights predates the discovery of the element itself.
Neon is a noble gas and one of just six elements that are inert. It is odorless, colorless, and nearly nonreactive. Along with other noble gases like argon and krypton, neon was discovered in 1898 by chemists Morris Travers and William Ramsay while experimenting with the evaporation of liquefied air. Neon was first used in 1902 to fill sealed glass tubes and create the bright, unmistakable signage that we associate with advertising today.
However, they weren't the pioneers of neon lights. The first neon lights trace back to the 1850s, when Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Geissler, the son of a glassmaker, invented them. Geissler was a pioneer in creating the vacuum tube, along with the vacuum pump and the method for inserting electrodes into glass tubes. He experimented with a variety of gases, producing lights in many different colors, although neon emits a distinct reddish-orange glow. Neon’s widespread use was driven by its vivid color and remarkable longevity, maintaining its brilliance for decades.
5. Aluminum Was More Valuable Than Gold
Chemists knew of aluminum for about 40 years before they were able to isolate it. When they finally succeeded in 1825, it became incredibly valuable. A Danish chemist developed a method to extract only a small amount, and it wasn't until 1845 that German scientists figured out how to produce enough of it to study even its basic properties. By 1852, aluminum’s average price was around $1,200 per kilogram—equivalent to roughly $33,650 today.
It wasn’t until the 1880s that a new process was developed to allow aluminum to be used more widely. Until then, it remained exceptionally valuable. Napoleon III, the first president of the French Republic, used aluminum dinner settings only for his most esteemed guests, with ordinary guests seated with gold or silver tableware. The King of Denmark wore an aluminum crown, and when aluminum was chosen to cap the Washington Monument, it was akin to selecting pure silver. Wealthy Parisian women wore aluminum jewelry and used aluminum opera glasses as symbols of their affluence.
Aluminum also became a symbol of futuristic visions. It was the star attraction at the Paris Exposition of 1878 and became the material of choice for authors like Jules Verne in imagining the future. Aluminum was envisioned as the building block for everything from entire cities to rocket ships.
Of course, the value of aluminum plummeted when new methods for producing it were developed, making it suddenly ubiquitous.
4. Fluorine’s Deadly Challenge
Fluorine was first observed as early as the 1500s by a German mineralogist, who noted its ability to lower the melting point of ore. By 1670, a glassworker had accidentally discovered that fluorspar combined with acids could be used to etch glass. Isolating fluorine, however, proved to be far more dangerous and deadly.
It was Carl Scheele, a familiar name in scientific discoveries, who identified that something in fluorspar was causing the reaction. In 1771, he began the serious hunt for fluorine. However, it was Ferdinand Frederic Henri Moissan who finally isolated the element in 1886, winning a Nobel Prize for his achievement. Before that, the process left a grim trail of illness and injury. Moissan himself had to halt his work four times due to fluorine poisoning, and though he eventually recovered, it’s widely believed his life was drastically shortened by the damage, as he died from appendicitis shortly after receiving his Nobel Prize.
Humphry Davy’s attempts to isolate fluorine left him with permanent damage to his eyes and fingers. Irish chemists Thomas and George Knox suffered dearly for their work, with one dying and the other bedridden for years. A Belgian chemist also lost his life in pursuit of fluorine, and French chemist Jerome Nickels met a similar fate. In the 1860s, George Gore’s experiments led to several explosions. It wasn’t until Moissan had the insight to cool the sample to –23 degrees Celsius (–9°F) that he successfully isolated the volatile liquid for the first time.
3. Chlorine And Phlogiston
The concept of phlogiston delayed the understanding of chlorine for many years.
Phlogiston theory, introduced by Georg Ernst Stahl, suggested that metals were composed of both their core substance and phlogiston. Chemists used this idea in the 18th century to explain the transformation of metals. For instance, when iron rusts, it loses its 'iron-ness' and retains only phlogiston. The theory evolved, and by the 1760s, phlogiston was identified as 'inflammable air,' which we now know as hydrogen. Other elements were also categorized within this framework: oxygen was called dephlogisticated air, and nitrogen was considered phlogiston-saturated air.
In 1774, Carl Scheele successfully produced chlorine using hydrochloric acid, describing it as acidic, suffocating, and “most oppressive to the lungs.” He also observed its bleaching effect and its lethal impact on insects. However, rather than recognizing chlorine as a new element, Scheele mistakenly believed he had discovered a dephlogisticated form of muriatic acid. A French chemist argued it was an oxide of an unknown element. Humphry Davy, who had his own struggles with fluorine, initially believed it to be an oxygen-free compound, conflicting with the prevailing theory that it was an oxygen compound. It wasn’t until 1811, after the debunking of phlogiston, that Davy confirmed chlorine was an element and named it after its color.
2. The Bizarre Unveiling Of Palladium
Palladium was discovered by the remarkably underappreciated William Hyde Wollaston. With a medical degree from Cambridge, Wollaston had initially pursued a career as a doctor and inventor of optical instruments before turning to chemistry. In addition to isolating palladium and rhodium, he created the first form of malleable platinum. But the way he introduced palladium to the world is what truly stands out.
After forming a partnership with the wealthy Smithson Tennant, Wollaston gained access to platinum ore, which had to be smuggled into England from Jamaica, then part of what is now Colombia. In 1801, he set up a full laboratory in his garden and began his research.
His journals from 1802 document his discovery of a new element, initially called “ceresium,” but soon renamed “palladium.” Aware that other researchers were closing in on similar findings, he knew he needed to make his discovery public. But instead of formally presenting it, he went to a shop on London’s Gerrard Street in Soho and handed out flyers promoting a new type of silver for sale. The chemists who got wind of it went wild, trying to replicate the material but failing. With skepticism growing, Wollaston offered an anonymous reward to anyone who could prove it wasn’t an alloy. Naturally, no one succeeded.
While continuing his research, Wollaston also discovered rhodium and published his findings in 1804. By 1805, he was prepared to reveal his earlier discovery of palladium and wrote a paper detailing the element. He presented it before the Royal Society of London, where he discussed its unique properties and concluded by admitting that he had uncovered it earlier but needed more time to thoroughly explore its characteristics before making it official.
1. The Element Named For The Devil
Nickel is a familiar element today, found in alloys and even in a US coin that’s only about 25% actual nickel. The story behind its name is far from ordinary, though. While many elements are named after deities or traits they possess, nickel carries a name that links it to the Devil.
The term “nickel” is a shortened form of the German word kupfernickel, which dates back to a time when copper was prized, but nickel was anything but. Miners, who were often quite superstitious, would discover ore veins that appeared to be copper but weren’t. These deceptive ores were called kupfernickel, or “Old Nick’s copper.” The nickname for the Devil, “Old Nick,” became associated with these misleading veins, believed by miners to be placed by the Devil himself. It was thought that he did so to trick them into wasting their time and to lead them into dangerous paths. Miners, who lived with the constant threat of danger, also held the belief in Earth spirits who could either help or harm those who ventured into their subterranean world.
In 1751, Swedish chemist and mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt successfully isolated pure nickel. The name given to the worthless ore by miners for centuries remained, and it stuck as the element’s official name.
