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What
the name means:
Ruthenium was named after the Latin word
for Russia, Ruthenia.
Who
identified
ruthenium? In
1808, a Polish chemist named Jedrzej
Sniadecki claimed that he had identified a
new element, that was probably ruthenium,
but his work was not verified. In 1828, a
Russian chemist named Gottfried Osann
identified a new element present in a
platinum ore from the Ural Mountains. He
named the element ruthenium and sent
samples of the ore to Jöns Jakob Berzelius.
Berzelius did not agree that any new
element was present in the sample. Osann
publicly retracted his claim in 1829.
In
1844, Karl Klauss, working in Estonia,
analysed a sample of the same platinum ore
to settle the question. He managed to
extract a sample of the new element. This
time Berzelius had to agree that a new
element had been identified. Klauss was
credited with the discovery. However, he
called the element ruthenium out of respect
for Osann’s work.
About
ruthenium:
Ruthenium is one of the rarest elements in
the Earth’s crust. It can be found in its
free state (as an element) and it is
usually associated with platinum and
palladium ores. It is used in alloys to
strengthen both platinum and palladium. |
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