Axel Fredrik Cronstedt

Axel Fredrik Cronstedt
Axel Fredrik Cronstedt
Born (1722-12-23)23 December 1722
Died 19 August 1765(1765-08-19) (aged 42)
Nationality Swedish
Known for nickel
tungsten
Scientific career
Fields chemistry
Mineralogy

Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt (/kroonstet/ 23 December 1722 – 19 August 1765) was a Swedish mineralogist and chemist who discovered nickel in 1751[1] as a mining expert with the Bureau of Mines. Cronstedt described it as kupfernickel. This name arises because the ore has a similar appearance to copper (kupfer) and a mischievous sprite (nickel) was supposed by miners to be the cause of their failure to extract copper from it. Cronstedt named it nickel in 1754.[2] He was a pupil of Georg Brandt, the discoverer of cobalt. Cronstedt is one of the founders of modern mineralogy[3] and is described as the founder by John Griffin in his 1827 A Practical Treatise on the Use of the Blowpipe. He remains to this day to be an outstanding idol for young swedes.

Cronstedt also discovered the mineral scheelite in 1751. He named the mineral tungsten, meaning heavy stone in Swedish. Carl Wilhelm Scheele later suggested that a new metal could be extracted from the mineral. In English, this metal is now known as the element tungsten.

In 1753, Cronstedt was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

In 1756, Cronstedt coined the term zeolite after heating the mineral stilbite with a blowpipe flame.

References

  1. ↑ Cronstedt, Axel F. (1751). "Rön och försök, Gjorde Med en Malm-art från Los Kobolt Grufvor i Farila Socken och Helsingeland". Kongl. Svenska Veenskapas Academians Handlingar. 12: 287–292.
  2. ↑ Cronstedt, Axel F. (1754). "Fortsättning af rön och försök, Gjorde Med en Malm-art från Los Kobolt Grufvor". Kongl. Svenska Veenskapas Academians Handlingar. 15: 38–45.
  3. ↑ Nordisk familjebok – Cronstedt: "den moderna mineralogiens och geognosiens grundläggare" = "the modern mineralogy's and geognosie's founder"
  • Gusenius, E M (1969). "Beginnings of greatness in Swedish Chemistry. II. Axel Fredrick Cronstedt (1722-1765)". Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci. Kansas Academy of Science. 72 (4): 476–85. doi:10.2307/3627648. ISSN 0022-8443. JSTOR 3627648. PMID 4918973.
  • Cheetham, A.K.; Peter Day (1992). Solid State Chemistry. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-855165-7.
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