Spanish chemist and mining engineer · 1755–1833
Fausto Elhuyar
Fausto Elhuyar isolated tungsten with his brother Juan José in 1783, and went on to run the mining industry of colonial Mexico.
How Tungsten was found
Fausto was teaching mineralogy at the Royal Seminary of Bergara when his brother returned from Sweden with news of Scheele’s tungstic acid. Together they showed the acid in wolframite was the same, and reduced it with charcoal to obtain the metal.
Their paper, published in 1783, described the first isolation of tungsten and also showed that the metal is present in wolframite, solving a puzzle that had annoyed tin smelters for centuries.
Shared the credit
The discovery is credited jointly to these scientists.
Life and career
Born 1755 · Died 1833
Fausto was born in Logroño and trained in Paris and Freiberg. In 1788 he went to New Spain as director-general of mines, where he founded the Royal Mining Seminary in Mexico City and its building, the Palacio de Minería.
After Mexican independence he returned to Spain and directed the country’s mining administration.
Discovered in the same era
Other elements identified within ten years of 1783.