Muller von Reichenstein

L. tellus, earth) Discovered by Muller von Reichenstein in 1782 named by Klaproth, who isolated it in 1798. 

Tellurium was the first of these three elements to be discovered. It was isolated by the Austrian chemist F. J. Muller von Reichenstein in 1782 a few years after the discovery of oxygen by J. Priestley and C. W. Scheele (p. 600), though the periodic group relationship between the elements was not apparent until nearly a century later (p. 20). Tellurium was first... 

Tellurium - the atomic number is 52 and the chemical symbol is Te. The name derives from the Latin Tellus, who was the Roman goddess of the earth . It was discovered by the Roumanian mine director Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein in 1782 and overlooked for sixteen years imtil it was first isolated by German chemist Martin-Heiniich Klaproth in 1798. The Hungarian chemist Paul Kitaibel independently discovered tellurium in 1789, prior to Klaproth s work but after von Reichenstein. 

Two people are responsible for the discovery of tellurium. First, Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein (1743—1825), chief inspector of a gold mine in Transylvania (part of Romania), experimented with the ores in his mine between 1782 and 1783. From an ore known as aurum album, he extracted an element that, at first, was thought to be antimony. He sent a sample to Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743—1817), who 16 years later correctly identified it as a new element and named it tellurium. However, Klaproth gave Franz Joseph Muller credit for the discovery. 

Muller s important discovery seems to have been overlooked for fifteen years, but on January 25, 1798, M. H. Klaproth read a paper on the gold ores of Transylvania before the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. He reminded his hearers of the forgotten element, and suggested for it the name tellurium, meaning earth, by which it has ever since been known (3). It is hard to understand why so many historians of science credit him with the discovery of tellurium. Klaproth, who was never desirous of undeserved honors, stated definitely that the element had been discovered by Muller von Reichenstein in 1782 (11, 14). 

This view, however, was opposed by a distinguished contemporary. Baron Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein was bom at Sibiu, (Nagy-szeben or Hermannstadt) in the Transylvanian Alps on July 1, 1740. After receiving his elementary education in his native city, he went to Vienna to study philosophy and law. Later he became so deeply interested in mining, metallurgy, and chemistry that in 1763 he entered the famous School of Mines of Selmeczbanya, or Schemnitz (which is now known as Stiavnica Banska, Czechoslovakia). Here he studied under the capable leadership of N. J. Jacquin (1). 

The Former School of Mining and Forestry at Schemnitz, or Selmeezbanya. Schemnitz, or Stiavnica Banska, Czechoslovakia, where Muller von Reichenstein, the discoverer of tellurium, was educated. When Austria-Hungary was divided in 1918, the collections, the library, the archives, and most of the portable equipment at the former Schemnitz School of Mines were taken to the University of Sopron in Hungary. Transylvania, with its historic mines of gold and tellurium, became part of Roumania. 

Long before my trip to Vienna, I had worked on this investigation, using a specimen which had been sent here by the late Mr. von Fichtel" to Mr. Siegfried I am also indebted to Mr. Muller von Reichenstein, who was then in Zalathna, for voluntarily sending me his supply of tellurium ores, which enabled me to carry my earlier investigations farther. 

I have expressly and emphatically explained that the credit for the discovery belongs to Mr. Muller von Reichenstein. Can one more definitely observe the suum cuique Now since I have never claimed the discovery, it is now as clear... 

Vol. 11, Kaiserlich-konigliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1864, pp. 337-9. This lexicon also contains biographical sketches of Bom, Fichtel, Haidinger, Muller von Reichenstein, Piller, Rupprecht, Schedius, and Waldstein. 

Jan. 25, 1798 Klaproth brings Muller von Reichenstein s discovery of tellurium to the attention of German chemists. 

Tellurium was discovered in 1782 by F. J. Muller von Reichenstein, and selenium was discovered in 1817 by J. J. Berzelius. Polonium was discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie, but of the nearly 30 known isotopes of polonium, none are stable, so the element is of much less importance chemically. 

Tellurium was discovered in 1782 by Franz Josef Muller von Reichenstein from Transylvanian gold ore known as aurum album. Initially he believed he had isolated antimony but realized shortly that it was a previously unknown element. Since Muller von Reichenstein published his findings in an obscure journal, the work was forgotten until 1798 when Martin Heinrich Klaproth, a German chemist, confirmed the discovery of the new metal and gave it the name tellurium, which derives from Latin tellus = Earth. ... 

Tellurium was discovered in 1782 by Austrian mineralogist Baron Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein (1740—c. 1825). The element seldom occurs in its pure state. It is usually found as a compound in ores of gold, silver, copper, lead, mercury, or bismuth. The most common... 

Austrian mineralogist Baron Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein... 

Tellurium was discovered in gold ores by Franz Joseph Muller von Reich-enstein, the chief inspector of mines in Transylvania (Romania), in 1782. Tellurium was named, however, by M. Klaproth, who continned Muller von Reichenstein s work and isolated the element in 1798. Its name originates from the Latin tellus, which means earth. ... 

Compare the densities of antimony and tellurium. Is it understandable that Baron Muller von Reichenstein confused them Would such a comparison distinguish selenium and tellurium ... 

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