Cadmium was discovered in 1817 by the German chemist Friedrich Stromeyer, who was inspecting pharmacies on behalf of the Hanoverian government. He noticed that some samples of zinc carbonate turned yellow on heating, although they contained no iron, and traced the colour to an unknown metal. The chemist Karl Hermann found the same metal in zinc oxide at about the same time. The name comes from cadmia, the old word for zinc ores such as calamine. Cadmium is a soft, bluish metal that occurs together with zinc, and it was long used for protective plating and for brilliant yellow and red pigments favoured by painters. Nickel-cadmium batteries were once very common, but because cadmium is toxic its uses have been restricted in many countries.
Before and after
- 21 April 1816Birth of Charlotte Brontë
- 1 June 1816Founding of Austrian National Bank
- 27 August 1816Bombardment of Algiers
- 19 November 1816Founding of University of Warsaw
- 1817Discovery of cadmium
- from 1817 to 1818Great Rebellion of 1817–1818
- 1817Discovery of lithium
- 1817Discovery of selenium
- 23 June 1817Founding of Bank of Montreal
More in Science & technology
- 1774Discovery of chlorine
- 1791Discovery of titanium
- 30 June 1808Discovery of boron
- 6 March 1869Periodic table
- 1884Car
- 1894Discovery of argon
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.