Nils Gabriel Sefström (2 June 1787 – 30 November 1845) was a Swedish

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-resistan ...

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 atomic nucleus, nuclei, including the pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of that species. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements canno ...

, 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 ( pass ...

. 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) Hon FRSE (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 fi ...

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 royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

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 rang ...

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 mo ...

, 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 na ...

, are named after him.

References

Further reading