Ilmenium was the proposed name for a new element found by the chemist R. Hermann in 1847. During the analysis of the mineral samarskite, he concluded that it does contain an element similar to

niobium Niobium is a chemical element with chemical symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs hardness rating similar to pure titanium, and it has sim ...

and

tantalum Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as ''tantalium'', it is named after Tantalus, a villain in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that is ...

. The similar reactivity of niobium and tantalum complicated preparation of pure samples of the metals and therefore several new elements were proposed, which were later found to be mixtures of niobium and tantalum. The differences between tantalum and niobium, and the fact that no other similar element was present, were unequivocally demonstrated in 1864 by

Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand (20 October 1826 – 5 November 1897) was a Swedish mineralogist and chemist. He was a professor at the University of Lund from 1862-1895, where he isolated the element niobium in 1864. He developed an early version of ...

, and

Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Montm ...

, as well as

Louis J. Troost Louis Joseph Troost (17 October 1825, Paris – 30 September 1911) was a French chemist. Biography In 1848 he began his studies at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where from 1851 he worked as an assistant chemist. In 1856 he receiv ...

, who determined the formulas of some of the compounds in 1865 and finally by the Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac Although it had been proven that ilmenium is only a mixture of niobium and tantalum, Hermann continued publishing articles on ilmenium for several years. The name "ilmenium" is a reference to the

Ilmensky Mountains The Ilmensky Mountains (russian: links=no, Ильменские горы, translit=Il'menskiye gory) are located in the Southern Urals in the Chelyabinsk Oblast on the administrative territory of Miass in Chebarkulsky and Argayashsky districts. ...

.The Chemical Gazette, Or, Journal of Practical Chemistry, in All Its Applications to Pharmacy, Arts and Manufactures, Volume 4
by William Francis; page 451; published 1846, by Richard and John E. Taylor; via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

References

{{Reflist Misidentified chemical elements Niobium Tantalum