Metalpedia
Metalpedia
  • Cadmium: element discovery
  • Cadmium was discovered in 1817 by a professor of metallurgy and head of the department of chemistry at the Gottingen University, Friedrich Stromeyer (1776-1835). He noted that particular samples (impure zinc carbonate, ZnCO3) changed colour on heating, which pure zinc carbonate does not. He was persistent enough to follow this observation through and he eventually isolated some cadmium metal by roasting and reduction of the sulphide.
  • K.S.L Hermann and J.C.H. Roloff who may have found cadmium in zinc oxide during the same year, are also credited with cadmium’s discovery. A historical debate still remains as to who actually discovered the pure form of the element first.
  • The phase of scientific history in which Stromeyer was active was one in which chemical discovery was being accomplished primarily by pharmacists, apothecaries and physicians. The practice of alchemy was dying out, and chemistry was just starting to arise as a separate science. Stromeyer, also a physician, was testing zinc oxide, a medicine in the early 19th century, for purity.
  • The name of the new element originated from the Latin “cadmia” and the Greek “kadmeia,” both ancient names for calamine (zinc carbonate).
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