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What the name means: The word calcium comes from the Greek word kylix that was translated to calx in Latin, meaning lime.

Who identified calcium? Lime (calcium oxide) and limestone (calcium carbonate or chalk) have been used since Roman times as building materials. In 1808, Jöns Jakob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist, used electrolysis to try to separate the metal from lime but his process produced a mixture (amalgam) of mercury and calcium. Later that year, Humphry Davy used the same method but mixed lime with baryta (barium hydroxide) and mercury. He succeeded in isolating the pure metal that he named calcium.

About calcium: Calcium does not occur as the element in nature but its compounds, such as limestone or chalk (calcium carbonate), quicklime (calcium oxide), gypsum (calcium sulphate) and fluorspar (calcium fluoride) are abundant. Calcium belongs to the vertical group II of the periodic table; a group known as the alkaline earth metals. Calcium is essential for the human body since it is necessary for muscle contraction and bone formation. The compound calcium phosphate is the main constituent of bone.