Nils Gabriel Sefström (2 June 1787 – 30 November 1845) was a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
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 ...
. Sefström was a student of
Berzelius and, when studying the brittleness of
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
in 1830, he rediscovered a new
chemical element
A chemical element is a species of atoms that have a given number of protons in their nuclei, including the pure substance consisting only of that species. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements cannot be broken down into simpler sub ...
, to which he gave the name
vanadium
Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pas ...
.
Vanadium was first discovered by the Spanish-Mexican mineralogist
Andrés Manuel del Río
Andrés Manuel del Río y Fernández (10 November 1764 – 23 March 1849) was a Spanish– Mexican scientist, naturalist and engineer who discovered compounds of ''vanadium'' in 1801. He proposed that the element be given the name ''panchromium' ...
in 1801. He named it erythronium.
Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler () FRS(For) HonFRSE (31 July 180023 September 1882) was a German chemist known for his work in inorganic chemistry, being the first to isolate the chemical elements beryllium and yttrium in pure metallic form. He was the firs ...
later confirmed that vanadium and erythronium were the same substance.
Sefström was member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...
from 1815.
The
Spitzbergen
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
glacier
Sefströmbreen Sefströmbreen is a glacier in James I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It is debouching into Ekmanfjorden at the northern side of Isfjorden. The glacier is named after Nils Gabriel Sefström. During a surge in 1896 the glacier deposited large mor ...
, and the mountain ridge of
Sefströmkammen Sefströmkammen is a mountain ridge in Nordenskiöld Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It has a length of about six kilometers, extending along Aurdalen from Søre Aurdalsbre, and comprises the peak of Hamretoppen and other peaks. The ridge is n ...
, are named after him.
References
Further reading
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Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon: Sefström, Nils Gabriel- in Swedish
1787 births
1845 deaths
Swedish chemists
Uppsala University alumni
Discoverers of chemical elements
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
19th-century Swedish scientists
19th-century chemists
Vanadium
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