1742–1825

Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein

Discovered tellurium in 1783.

Element

52TeTellurium
1783

Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein spent three years on a gold ore from Transylvania and proved in 1783 that it held a new element. Few noticed until Martin Heinrich Klaproth confirmed it in 1798 and named it tellurium, from the Latin for earth.

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Where the dates and stories on this page come from; each event on the timeline links to its own source. The Austrian Biographical Lexicon gives 4 April 1742; other records give 4 October 1742 or 1740.