Swedish chemist · 1767–1813
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg discovered tantalum in 1802 and gave it one of the most memorable names in the periodic table.
How Tantalum was found
Ekeberg analysed two minerals, one from Kimito in Finland and one from Ytterby in Sweden, and found a new oxide that would not dissolve in any acid.
He named the element after Tantalus, the figure in Greek myth condemned to stand in water he could never drink, because the oxide sat in acid without absorbing any. For decades tantalum was confused with niobium, until Heinrich Rose separated them in 1846.
Life and career
Born 1767 · Died 1813
Ekeberg was born in Stockholm and taught chemistry at Uppsala University. He was partly deaf from childhood and lost an eye in a laboratory accident. He was one of the first in Sweden to support Lavoisier’s new chemistry.
Discovered in the same era
Other elements identified within ten years of 1802.