Louis Nicolas Vauquelin

Nicolas Louis Vauquelin found a new substance in the gems beryl and emerald and announced it in February 1798. He named the element glucinium, because its compounds tasted sweet; the name beryllium, after the gem, won in the end.

In 1798 Nicolas Louis Vauquelin, in Paris, took apart a bright red lead mineral from Siberia and found a new metal in it. Its compounds came in so many colours that he named it chromium, from the Greek for colour.