Nickel was isolated in 1751 by the Swedish chemist and mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who was investigating a reddish ore from the mines of Los in Halsingland. German miners called the ore kupfernickel, meaning copper devil, because it looked like copper ore but yielded none of the metal and they blamed a mischievous spirit named Nickel. Cronstedt showed that the ore contained a new metal and gave it a name taken from this nickname. At first many chemists doubted that it was a distinct element. Nickel resists corrosion and is magnetic, and it is used in coins, in rechargeable batteries and, above all, in stainless steel and other alloys.
Before and after
- 1750Founding of Toronto
- c. 1750sRise of Neoclassical architecture
- 28 July 1750Death of Johann Sebastian Bach
- 1751Encyclopédie
- 1751Discovery of nickel
- 16 March 1751Birth of James Madison
- 25 May 17511751 Concepción earthquake
- 1752Founding of Pittsfield
- from 20 April 1752 to 6 May 1757Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War
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The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.