Indium was discovered in 1863 by the German chemists Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymus Theodor Richter at the Freiberg Mining Academy in Saxony. Reich was searching for thallium in samples of zinc ore using a spectroscope. Since he was colour-blind, he asked his assistant Richter to look at the spectrum, and Richter saw a brilliant indigo-blue line that did not belong to any known element. The name derives from this indigo colour, from the Latin indicum. They later isolated the soft, silvery metal. Indium is rare, melts at a low temperature and sticks to glass. Its main use is in indium tin oxide, a transparent conductive coating used in the screens of touchscreen phones and flat-panel televisions, and it is also used in solders.
Before and after
- 29 August 1862Birth of Maurice Maeterlinck
- 17 September 1862Battle of Antietam
- 15 November 1862Birth of Gerhart Hauptmann
- from 31 December 1862 to 2 January 1863Battle of Stones River
- 1863Discovery of indium
- 1863Origins of Baháʼí Faith
- from 1863 to 1865Colorado War
- 1 January 1863Emancipation Proclamation
- 1 January 1863Birth of Pierre de Coubertin
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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 19th century.