History of Rare Earth Elements: Axel Fredrick Cronstedt Lt. Carl Axel Arrhenius

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History of Rare Earth Elements

1751
Axel Fredrick Cronstedt
1787
(Swedish Mineralogist and Chemist)
Lt. Carl Axel Arrhenius
Described an unusual (Swedish Chemist)
heavy, reddish mineral
Found an interesting,
found in the Quarry of
very dense black
Bastnäs.
mineral which he named
Ytterbite.

Carl Wilhelm Scheele Bengt Reinhold Geijer


(Swedish Chemist) (Swedish Mineralogist )

Analyzed the mineral He speculated that the


and conclude that it mineral might contain
was only an iron Tungsten.
aluminium silicate.
History of Rare Earth Elements
Cerite
First of the rare earth
minerals discovered.

Ytterbite
It was later named Gadolinite,
and it was here that new
elements were discovered.

1794
The chemistry of the rare
earths began with Gadolin’s
Figure 3. 150 years of rare earths history. The complex compositions of the two
starting minerals cerite and gadolinite (ytterbite) are revealed in the flow chart observation.
of discoveries of the elements

https://www.periodni.com/history_of_rare_earth_elements.html
History of Rare Earth Elements
The Opening Began

1794 1797
Johan Gadolin Anders Gustaf Ekeberg
(Chemist ) (Swedish Chemist)

Confirmed Gadolin’s analysis


and shortened the name
Ytterbia to Yttria.

He was able to show that the


new mineral contained:
23% silicon dioxide
4.5% Beryllium oxide
16.5% iron oxide
55.5% Ytterbia (new oxide)
History of Rare Earth Elements
The Opening Began
1803
Early Greeks Wilhelm Hisinger
(Swedish Ironmaster and Scientist)

Defined Earth as materials that


could not be change further by the
sources of heat then available.

Ca, Al, Mg were known as Earths.


Jöns Jakob Berzelius
(Chemist)
Martin Klaproth
(German Chemist)

Same conclusion: it Analyzed ‘tungsten of Bastanäs’ and


contained a new isolated an earth similar to Yttria but
element which he recognized it was distinct.
called ochroite due
to the light yellow They named the new earth as Ceria.
color of the pure
substance. Co-discoverers of Cerium: Hisinger, Berzelius,
Klaproth
History of Rare Earth Elements
The Opening Began

Russian Matryoshka Dolls


1839
Carl Gustav Mosander
(Swedish Chemist)

Separated Ceria into


pure Ceria and an
earth which he
named Lanthana
(Lanthanein=to lie
hidden)

Figure 4. Rare earth elements as a Russian 1842 He showed that Lanthana


contained another earth
nesting dolls (matryoshka or babushka
dolls): red is 'ceria matryoshka' and blue is which he called Dydimia
'ittria matryoshka'. (Didymos=twins)
https://www.periodni.com/history_of_rare_earth_ele
ments.html

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