Arfvedson, Johan August

Johan August Arfvedson (1792-1841) discovered this element during the accurate analysis of the mineral petalite. 

Swedish chemist Johan August Arfvedson Lightweight, reactive alkali metal whose isotope lithium-6 was used to build the hydrogen bomb. 

Johan August Arfwcdson, 1792-1841. This lithograph by Fehr and Miiller of Stockholm was labeled by Berzelius Reskamraten Arfvedson" (traveling companion Arfvedson). Berzelius placed it in tlie manuscript of his travel diary "Reseanteckningar. ... 

Anon., Biografi ofver Johan August Arfvedson, Brukspatron, Kongl. Vet. Acad. Hand ., 1841, pp. 249-55. 

Credit for the discovery of lithium usually goes to Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson (or Arfvedson 1792-1841). Arfwedson found the new element in a mineral that had first been identified about 20 years earlier by Brazilian scientist Joze Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva (1763-1838). That mineral, petalite, is still a major source of lithium today. 

The name and symbol come from the Greek lithos, meaning stone. In 1817, Johan August Arfvedson (1792-1841) discovered lithium in a sample of petalite. He named it lithion because it came from a mineral source. This name was later transformed into lithium to match other names. Lithium is the lightest of all the metals, but because it is corrosive and highly reactive, it does not occur in elemental form. Trace amounts of lithium can be found in most igneous rock. It is used commercially in alloys, nuclear applications, and batteries. Lithium carbide is used as a treatment for various mental illnesses. 

Lithium is a bright silvery metal, first discovered in 1817 by Johan August Arfvedson in Stockholm, Sweden. But it was not until 1821 that William T. 

Swedish chemist Johan August Arfvedson discovers the... 

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