Dutch physicist · 1889–1950
Dirk Coster
Dirk Coster co-discovered hafnium in 1923, at Niels Bohr’s institute in Copenhagen. Fifteen years later he helped Lise Meitner escape from Nazi Germany.
How Hafnium was found
Bohr’s new atomic theory predicted that element 72 should resemble zirconium, not the rare earths, where chemists had been looking for it. Coster, an X-ray spectroscopist, and George de Hevesy examined zirconium minerals.
They found X-ray lines at exactly the wavelengths expected for element 72, a striking confirmation of Bohr’s theory. They named it hafnium, after Hafnia, the Latin name for Copenhagen.
Shared the credit
The discovery is credited jointly to these scientists.
Life and career
Born 1889 · Died 1950
Coster was born in Amsterdam, trained in Leiden and Lund, and became professor of physics at Groningen. In 1938 he personally escorted Lise Meitner across the Dutch border, a few months before she and Otto Frisch explained nuclear fission.
Also known for
- Helped Lise Meitner flee Germany in 1938
Discovered in the same era
Other elements identified within ten years of 1923.