Antal Ruprecht (1748–1818) was a Hungarian

Chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

. He was born in Szomolnok, Hungary in 1748. He graduated from the Mining Academy of Selmecbánya where he later became a professor of chemistry and metallurgy in 1779. He was the first to melt

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

and contributed to the discovery of

tellurium Tellurium is a chemical element with the symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionally fou ...

in 1784. Ruprecht was the first to theorise that alkaline earth metals were compounds rather than elements; later proved by

Humphry Davy Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...

. This theory caused some controversy in the chemistry community due to the previous assumption of earths being fundamental substances.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruprecht, Antal Hungarian chemists 1748 births 1818 deaths People from Gelnica District Scientists from the Austrian Empire