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What the name means: Indium is named after the colour indigo. This is because the indium spectrum shows a very bright indigo spectral line. The origins of the word indigo are from the Greek indicon and the Latin indicum. These words were used to describe a dye that came from India and was used in ancient times.

Who identified indium? Indium was identified by a German scientist called Ferdinand Reich in 1863. He was, in fact, looking for a newly identified element, Thallium, in a zinc ore. He isolated the oxide of an unknown metal that he hoped would be thallium. Reich was colour-blind so he asked another scientist, Hieronymus Theodor Richter, to help him with a spectroscopic examination of the oxide. The results showed a new spectrum with a very bright indigo line. The two scientists went on to separate the new element, indium, from its oxide.

About indium: Indium is very rare in the Earth’s crust. It is found, in small quantities, associated with zinc, iron, lead and copper ores. It is a soft, shiny, silvery-looking metal. It is unusual in that it gives out a high pitched noise when it is bent.