Adapted from an image by George Wilson (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
1731–1810
Henry Cavendish
Discovered hydrogen in 1766.
Element
1HHydrogen
1766
Henry Cavendish showed in 1766 that the flammable gas bubbling off metals in acid was a substance of its own, and later that it burns to make water. Antoine Lavoisier named it hydrogen, the water-former.
Keep exploring
Where the dates and stories on this page come from; each event on the timeline links to its own source.
- Henry CavendishEncyclopaedia Britannica
- HydrogenRoyal Society of Chemistry
- Henry CavendishWikipedia