Spectroscopy and rare-earth analysis · 1838–1912

Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran

Lecoq de Boisbaudran worked largely in a private laboratory and made himself the most productive spectroscopic analyst of his generation by systematically cataloging the spectra of known elements so that an unknown line would stand out. He also became one of the principal separators of rare earths, where the combination of fractional crystallization and spectral monitoring was exactly what the problem required.