Finally an Accepted Metal in Pyrolusite

Torbern Bergman, who was informed of Scheele s results, thought that they strongly indicated that an unknown element with metallic spirit was hidden in the mineral pyrolusite. 

In his pharmacy in Uppsala, Scheele s working place at that time, there was no furnace available effective enough to reduce a metal from pyrolusite. But Scheele s good friend J. G. Gahn in Falun had such a furnace. Scheele prepared a sample of pure py- 

This reduction of pyrolusite gave Gahn a place in the history of element discovery. 

Gahn but not Rinman or Keim. Why Of course Gahn s careful work was the basis of the success. But a contributory factor was his co-operation with Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman. Their great scientific authority supported the acceptance of Gahn as the discoverer by the whole chemical world. 

Ten years after Gahn s reduction, Peter Jacob Hjelm (the discoverer of molybdenum) gave an exhaustive description of the method [27.3]. 

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