Chemical Element: scandium
(Modern Latin: named for Scandinavia; metal)
Chemical-element Information
Symbol: ScAtomic number: 21
Year discovered: 1879
Discovered by: Lars Fredrik Nilson (1840-1899), a Swedish chemist.
- Scandium was discovered by Nilson, in 1879, in the minerals “euxenite” and “gadolinite”, which had not yet been found anywhere except in Scandinavia.
- He and his coworkers were actually looking for rare earth metals.
- By processing 10 kg of euxenite and other residues of rare-earth minerals, Nilson was able to prepare about 2 g of scandium oxide of high purity.
- In 1871, Mendeléyev predicted that an element should exist that would resemble boron in its properties.
- He therefore called it eka-boron, (symbol Eb).
- Cleve found scandium oxide at about the same time.
- He noted that the new element was the element eka-boron as predicted by Mendeléyev, in 1871; a second of his predicted elements had thus been discovered.
Name in other languages:
French: scandium
German: Scandium
Italian: scandio
Spanish: escandio
Information about other elements may be seen at this Chemical Elements List.
A special unit about words that include chemo-, chem- may be seen here.