History

                        Tantalum was discovered in 1802, by a Swedish chemist named 

Anders Ekeberg (1767–1813).  In 1820, Jöns Berzelius, also a

Swedish chemist, isolated tantalum. At the time, a lot of chemists 

believed that niobium and tantalum were the same element. 

While niobium and tantalum are closely related to each other in 

the periodic table, in 1844, Rose, and later in 1866, Marignac 

showed that niobic and tantalic acids were different acids. In 1903, Werner 

von Bolton produced the first relatively pure ductile metal of tantalum.

           The name tantalum came from the Greek word "Tantalos" meaning 

"father of Niobe." Father of Niobe was punished after death. He was 

condemned to stand knee-deep in water with healthy fruit growing

above his head. This tantalized him, because if he reached for the

fruit, the branches moved, so that he could not reach the fruit, and

when he tried to drink the water, it drained below the level he could

reach. This is considered to be similar to the general non-reactivity

of tantalum. Tantalum was named after the "father of Niobe" because

it is difficult to refine.