Phosphorus was discovered around 1669 by Hennig Brand, a German merchant and alchemist in Hamburg, who was seeking the philosopher's stone. Working with large amounts of urine, which he let putrefy and then boiled down and heated strongly, he obtained a white waxy substance that glowed in the dark. It is often described as the first element whose discoverer is known by name. Brand kept his method secret, but it was soon rediscovered and improved by Robert Boyle in England. The name comes from the Greek for light-bearer. In the nineteenth century phosphorus made safety matches possible, and it is now used mainly in fertilizers. The element is also essential to life, forming part of DNA and the energy-carrying molecule ATP.
Before and after
- from 24 May 1667 to 2 May 1668War of Devolution
- from 9 June 1667 to 14 June 1667Raid on the Medway
- 30 November 1667Birth of Jonathan Swift
- 1668Founding of Sveriges Riksbank
- 1669Discovery of phosphorus
- 4 October 1669Death of Rembrandt
- 1670Founding of Fall River
- 1670Construction of avenue des Champs-Élysées
- 1671Construction of Badshahi Mosque
More in Science & technology
- 15 February 1564Birth of Galileo Galilei
- 24 February 1582Pope Gregory XIII reforms the calendar
- 25 December 1642Birth of Isaac Newton
- 1654Magdeburg hemispheres
- October 1684Leibniz publishes the first paper on calculus
- 28 August 1749Birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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 17th century.