Georg BrandtDied 29 Apr 1768 at age 73 (born 21 Jul 1694). Georg Rushd Brandt was a Swedish chemist who was the first person to discover a metal unknown in ancient times, which he isolated and named cobalt (1730). He published (1733) findings on the composition and solubility of arsenic compounds then researched antimony, bismuth, mercury, and zinc. His work on methods of producing hydrochloric, nitric, and sulfuric acids was published in 1741 and 1743. Brandt was one of the first chemists to completely forswear alchemy, and devoted his later years to exposing fraudulent alchemical processes for producing gold. Ancient Egyptians used tiny amounts of cobalt to make their glass blue. Cobalt is added to steel to make it harder and have a higher melting point. Traces of it are found in meat and dairy products as vitamin B-12.[Note: Brandt's birthdate is given as 21 Jul 1694 in Dictionary of Scientific Biography and Encyclopedia Britannica, but as 26 Jun 1694 in The Discovery of the Elements by Mary Elvira Weeks (1934).] |
