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Johan Gadolin was born in Turku. He began to study mathematics at the Academy of Åbo when he was fifteen. Soon he found mathematics too laborious and changed his major to chemistry. In 1779 Gadolin moved to Uppsala University where he was taught by Torbern BergmanTorbern Olof Bergman ( March 20, 1735 Katrineberg, Sweden, July 8, 1784 Medevi, Sweden) was a Swedish chemist. Bergman greatly contributed to the advancement of quantitative analysis. He was also the first to create artificially carbonated water in 1771..
Gadolin became famous when he discovered the first rare earth elementThe rare earth elements are a relatively abundant group of 17 chemical elements (see Periodic Table) composed of scandium, yttrium, and the lanthanides. They were originally described as 'rare' because they were unknown in their elemental form, and diffic. In 1792 Gadolin received a sample of black, heavy mineralMinerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. The term "mineral" encompasses not only the material's chemical composition but also the mineral structures. Minerals range in composition from pure elements and simple salts to very comp found in a SwedishThe Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige in Swedish) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf village YtterbyYtterby is a village near Vaxholm in Sweden. There is a quarry in Ytterby where unusual minerals were discovered and these minerals gave rise to the following chemical elements: Erbium Terbium Ytterbium Yttrium Sweden, and more specifically the village of near StockholmStockholm ['stɔkhɔlm, ˘stɔkhɔlm] is the capital and the largest City of Sweden. The City of Stockholm is administratively a municipality within Stockholm County, the population of the city proper is 761,721 (2004), with. By careful experiments, he isolated a rare earth oxideA rare earth is an oxide of a rare earth element. Often rare earth elements themselves are loosely called "rare earths". Rare earth elements, or metals, are the lanthanides and actinides. They come from the f-block. They are: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymi which was later named yttria . Yttria, or yttrium oxide, was the first known rare earth metal compound — at that time, it was regarded as an element.
The mineral that Gadolin examined was named gadoliniteGadolinite is a mineral of a nearly black color and vitreous luster, and consisting principally of the silicates of erbium, yttrium, cerium, beryllium and iron. It is a source of rare earth metals. Minerals Silicate minerals. in 1800. The oxide of the element gadolinium, gadolinia , was named after Gadolin by its founders.
Gadolin became the professor of chemistry at the Academy of Åbo in 1797. He was one of the first chemists who gave laboratory exercises to students. He even let the students to use his private laboratory. Gadolin wrote the first anti- phlogiston chemistry textbook in the Nordic countries.