Chromium was discovered in 1797 by the French chemist Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin, who analysed a bright orange-red mineral from Siberia, then called Siberian red lead and now known as crocoite. The mineral had first been described by the German mineralogist Johann Gottlob Lehmann in 1761 from the Ural Mountains. Vauquelin found that it contained an unknown metal and in 1798 he isolated it by heating the oxide with charcoal. He named it chromium from the Greek chroma, meaning colour, because its compounds are vividly coloured, giving green to emeralds and red to rubies. Chromium is hard and resists tarnishing, so it is used for chrome plating and in stainless steel, which contains at least about ten percent of it.
Before and after
- from 18 August 1796 to 1 July 1808Anglo-Spanish War
- from 28 August 1796 to 5 September 1796Newfoundland expedition
- 6 November 1796Death of Catherine II of Russia
- from 1797 to 1798Cavendish experiment
- 1797Discovery of chromium
- 31 January 1797Birth of Franz Schubert
- 22 March 1797Birth of Wilhelm I
- July 1797Publication of Poland Is Not Yet Lost
- from 22 July 1797 to 25 July 1797Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
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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 18th century.