Berzelius, Johann Jakob

Berthollet, Claude-Louis Berzelius, Jons Jakob Black, Joseph Bohr, Niels Boltzmann, Ludwig Boyle, Robert Bragg, William Henry Bragg, William Lawrence Bronsted, Johannes Nicolaus Bunsen, Robert... 

Cerium was the first rare-earth element discovered, and its discovery came in 1803 by Jons Jakob Berzelius in Vienna. Johann Gadohn (1760—1852) also studied some minerals that were different from others known at that time. Because they were different from the common earth elements but were all very similar to each other, he named them rare-earth elements. However, he was unable to separate or identify them. In the 1800s only two rare-earths were known. At that time, they were known as yttria and ceria. Carl Gustav Mosander (1797—1858) and several other scientists attempted to separate the impurities in these two elements. In 1839 Mosander treated cerium nitrate with dilute nitric acid, which yielded a new rare-earth oxide he called lanthanum. Mosander is credited with its discovery. This caused a change in the periodic table because the separation produced two new elements. Mosander s method for separating rare-earths from a common mineral or from each other led other chemists to use... 

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