Vanadium

Vanadium was originally discovered in 1801 by the Spanish mineralogist Andres Manuel del Rio y Fernandez. He named the element erythronium, after the plant whose flowers have many beautiful colours. Del Rio later decided that what he had found was really chromium in his lead sample [11].

Vanadium was then discovered in 1830 by the Swedish physician and chemist Nils-Gabriel Sefström. Isolation of the metal was not until 1869, by the English chemist Henry Enfield Roscoe [11].

Named after the Scandinavian goddess of love and beauty, Freyja Vanadis, due to its many beautiful multi-coloured compounds [11].