Analytical chemistry and mineralogy · 1767–1813
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg
Ekeberg taught at Uppsala and was among the Swedish chemists who introduced Lavoisier’s nomenclature into Swedish practice. He worked on the minerals of Ytterby and the surrounding region, which were then yielding more new substances than any other locality in Europe. Deafness from a childhood illness and the loss of an eye in a laboratory accident did not interrupt a career spent almost entirely at the analytical bench.
Explore the supporting references at the foot of this article.
Contribution & context
In 1802 he identified a new element in from Kimito and Ytterby and named it tantalum for the difficulty of getting its to absorb acid. Because tantalum and niobium occur together and behave almost identically, most chemists spent the next forty years believing his element and Hatchett’s columbium were the same substance.
USGS — TantalumLANL Periodic Table — TantalumRSC Periodic Table — TantalumLANL Periodic Table — Tantalumhome.web.cern.ch — Tantalum
Discoveries in context
Metals that will not melt ↗
Tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium and hafnium were hard to discover for the same reason they became indispensable: their compounds are stubborn and the metals themselves resist heat.
Sources & further reading
- USGS — Tantalum ↗United States Geological SurveyReference explanation · Source checked
- LANL Periodic Table — Tantalum ↗Los Alamos National LaboratoryReference explanation · Source checked
- RSC Periodic Table — Tantalum ↗Royal Society of ChemistryReference explanation · Source checked
- LANL Periodic Table — Tantalum ↗Los Alamos National LaboratoryReference explanation · Source checked
- home.web.cern.ch — Tantalum ↗home.web.cern.chReference explanation · Source checked
Sources and further reading. What the review labels mean