History of Cerium

History of Cerium

Discovered by: Wilhelm von Hisinger, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Martin Klaproth

When/Where: Sweden, Germany. 1803

Explanation:

     Cerium was named after the asteroid Ceres discovered in 1801, just two years before cerium was discovered.  Cerous oxide was discovered in 1803 by Berzelius and Klaproth in the mines of Germany. However, at the time both scientists had no idea that they had discovered a rare earth metal, because at the time they had discovered a mineral that contained many of the rare earth metals we know today.  It took almost 70 years until pure cerium was isolated from its oxide form. Cerium was isolated by the dissociation of Cerrous Chloride.  The Scientist to isolate cerium in its pure form was Hillebrand and Norton.  When news of cerium spread to the United States in 1875, cerium was found all over southern California because Cerium was found in minerals such as bastanite, allannite, monazite, and smarkzite.