Martin Heinrich Klaproth

Engraving by Ambroise Tardieu

Born| (1743-12-01)1 December 1743

Wernigerode, Kingdom of Prussia, Holy Roman Empire

Died| 1 January 1817(1817-01-01) (aged 73)

Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia

Nationality| German
Citizenship| Wernigerode
Known for| Discovery of uranium, zirconium, and other elements
Scientific career
Fields| Chemistry

Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1 December 1743 – 1 January 1817) was a German chemist.[1] He trained and worked for much of his life as an apothecary, moving in later life to the university. His shop became the second-largest apothecary in Berlin, and the most productive artisanal chemical research center in Europe.[2]

Klaproth was a major systematizer of analytical chemistry,[3] and an independent inventor of gravimetric analysis.[4][5] His attention to detail and refusal to ignore discrepancies in results led to improvements in the use of apparatus. He was a major figure in understanding the composition of minerals and characterizing the elements.[4] Klaproth discovered uranium (1789)[6] and zirconium (1789). He was also involved in the discovery or co-discovery of titanium (1795), strontium (1793), cerium (1803), and chromium (1797) and confirmed the previous discoveries of tellurium (1798) and beryllium (1798).[7][8]

Klaproth was a member and director of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.[2] He was recognized internationally as a member of the Royal Society in London,[9] the Institut de France, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[10]

## Contents

* 1 Career
* 2 Contributions
* 3 Works
* 4 Bibliography
* 5 Additional resources
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Career

Klaproth was born in Wernigerode.[1] He was the son of a tailor, and attended the Latin school at Wernigerode for four years.[2]

For much of his life he followed the profession of apothecary. In 1759, when he was 16 years old, he apprenticed at Quedlinburg. In 1764, he became a journeyman. He trained in pharmacies at Quedlinburg (1759–1766); Hanover (1766–1768, with August Hermann Brande); Berlin (1768); and Danzig (1770).[2]

In 1771, Klaproth returned to Berlin to work for Valentin Rose the Elder as manager of his business. Following Rose's death, Klaproth passed the required examinations to become senior manager. Following his marriage in 1780, he was able to buy his own establishment, the Apotheke zum Baren. Between 1782 and 1800, Klaproth published 84 papers based on researches carried out in the Apotheke's laboratory. His shop was the most productive site of artisanal chemistry investigations in Europe at that time.[2]

Beginning in 1782, he was the assessor of pharmacy for the examining board of the Ober-Collegium Medicum. In 1787 Klaproth was appointed lecturer in chemistry to the Prussian Royal Artillery.[11][7][2]

In 1788, Klaproth became an unsalaried member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1800, he became the salaried director of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He sold the apothecary and moved to the academy, where he convinced the university to build a new laboratory. Upon completion in 1802, Klaproth moved the equipment from his apothecary laboratory into the new building.[2] When the University of Berlin was founded in 1810 he was selected to be the professor of chemistry.[11]

He died in Berlin on New Year's Day in 1817.[1]

## Contributions

Memorial plate on the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof in Berlin, by Ralf Sander.

An exact and conscientious worker, Klaproth did much to improve and systematise the processes of analytical chemistry and mineralogy. His appreciation of the value of quantitative methods led him to become one of the earliest adherents of the Lavoisierian doctrines outside France.[11][4]

Klaproth was the first to discover uranium, identifying it first in torbernite but doing the majority of his research on it with the mineral pitchblende.[4][8] On 24 September 1789 he announced his discovery to the Royal Prussian Academy of sciences in Berlin.[12][13] He also discovered zirconium in 1789,[14][8] separating it in the form of its "earth" zirconia, oxide ZrO2.[15] Klaproth analyzed a brightly-colored form of the mineral called "hyacinth" from Ceylon. He gave the new element the name zirconium based on its Persian name "zargun", gold-colored.[16]: 515

Klaproth characterised uranium and zirconium as distinct elements, though he was unable to isolate them.[8]

Klaproth independently discovered cerium (1803), a rare earth element, around the same time as Jöns Jacob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger, in the winter of 1803.[17]

William Gregor of Cornwall was the first to identify the element titanium in 1791, correctly concluding that he had found a new element in the ore ilmenite from the Menachan valley. He proposed the name "menachanite", but his discovery attracted little attention.[16]: 497 Klaproth verified the presence of an oxide of an unknown element in the ore rutile from Hungary in 1795. Klaproth suggested the name "titanium". It was later determined that menachanite and titanium were the same element, from two different minerals, and Klaproth's name was adopted.[18]

Klaproth clarified the composition of numerous substances until then imperfectly known, including compounds of then newly recognised elements tellurium, strontium and chromium. [2] Chromium was discovered in 1797 by Louis Nicolas Vauquelin and independently discovered in 1798 by Klaproth and by Tobias Lowitz, in a mineral from the Ural mountains.[16]: 578–580 Klaproth confirmed chromium's independent status as an element.[8][19][20][2]

The existence of tellurium was first suggested in 1783 by Franz-Joseph Mueller von Reichenstein, an Austrian mining engineer who was examining Transylvanian gold samples. Tellurium was also discovered independently by Hungarian Pál Kitaibel in 1789. Mueller sent some of his mineral to Klaproth in 1796. Klaproth isolated the new substance and confirmed the identification of the new element tellurium in 1798. He credited Mueller as its discoverer, and suggested that the heavy metal be named "tellus", Latin for 'earth'.[21][22][8][23][16]: 1067 [24]: 12–16

In 1790 Adair Crawford and William Cruickshank determined that the mineral strontianite, found near Strontian in Scotland, was different from barium-based minerals.[25] Klaproth was one of several scientists involved in the characterization of strontium compounds and minerals.[26] Klaproth, Thomas Charles Hope, and Richard Kirwan independently studied and reported on the properties of strontianite, the preparation of compounds of strontium, and their differentiation from those of barium. In September 1793, Klaproth published on the separation of strontium from barium, and in 1794 on the preparation of strontium oxide and strontium hydroxide.[8][26] In 1808, Humphry Davy became the first to successfully isolate the pure element.[27][28]

Louis Nicolas Vauquelin reported the existence of a new element common to emerald and beryl in 1798, and suggested that it be named "glucine". Klaproth confirmed the presence of a new element, and became involved in a lengthy and ongoing debate over its name by suggesting "beryllia". The element was first isolated in 1828, independently by Friedrich Wöhler and Antoine Bussy. Only in 1949 did IUPAC rule exclusively in favor of the name beryllium.[23][8][16]: 348–352 [24][29]

Klaproth published extensively, collecting over 200 papers by himself in Beiträge zur chemischen Kenntnis der Mineralkörper (5 vols., 1795–1810) and Chemische Abhandlungen gemischten Inhalts (1815). He also published a Chemisches Wörterbuch (1807–1810), and edited a revised edition of F. A. C. Gren's Handbuch der Chemie (1806).

His mineral collection, which contained the original samples for his analyses and comprised 4828 pieces at the end of his life, was purchased by the University of Berlin after his death and is now housed in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.[30]

Klaproth became a foreign member of the Royal Society of London[9] in 1795,[31] and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1804.[10] He also belonged to the Institut de France.[10]

The crater Klaproth on the Moon is named after him.[32]

In 1823, botanist Carl Sigismund Kunth published a genus of flowering plants (belonging to the family Loasaceae), from Central America as Klaprothia in his honour.[33]

His son Julius was a famous orientalist.[34]

## Works

* Beiträge zur Chemischen Kenntniss der Mineralkörper . Vol. 1–5 . Rottmann, Berlin 1795–1810 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
* Chemisches Wörterbuch . Vol. 1–9 . Voss, Berlin 1807–1819 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
* Chemische Abhandlungen gemischten Inhalts . Nicolai, Berlin [u. a.] 1815 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf

## Bibliography

* Publication list of Klaproth Archived

## Additional resources

* Damaschun, F; Schmitt, R T (November 2025). "Uranentdeckung und Mineralanalysen - Die Sammlung Martin Heinrich Klaproth im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin [Uranium discovery and mineral analyses - The collection of Martin Heinrich Klaproth at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin]" (in German). Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8353-5997-0.
* Hoppe, G; Damaschun F; Wappler G (April 1987). "[An appreciation of Martin Heinrich Klaproth as a mineral chemist]". Pharmazie 42 (4): 266–7. PMID 3303064.
* Sepke, H; Sepke I (August 1986). "[The history of physiologic chemistry in the first years of its existence at the Berlin University. Contributions of the chemist M. H. Klaproth and others]". Zeitschrift für die gesamte Hygiene und ihre Grenzgebiete 32 (8): 504–6. PMID 3535265.
* Rocchietta, S (February 1967). "[The pharmacist Martin Klaproth (1743–1817), pioneer of modern analytical chemistry, discoverer of uranium. On the 150th anniversary of his death]" (in it). Minerva Med. 58 (13): 229. PMID 5336711.
* Dann, G E (July 1958). "[Scheele & Klaproth; a comparison.]". Svensk Farmaceutisk Tidskrift 62 (19–20): 433–7. PMID 13580811.
* Dann, G E (September 1953). "[Contribution of Martin Heinrich Klaproth to the development of chemistry.]". Pharmazie 8 (9): 771–9. PMID 13120350.

## See also

* Philip Ralshleigh
* John Hawkins
* William Gregor

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dann, Georg Edmund (1977) (in de), Klaproth, Martin Heinrich, 11, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 707–709, https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0001/bsb00016328/images/index.html?seite=713none ; (full text online)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Klein, Ursula (2007). "Apothecary-Chemists in Eighteenth-Century Germany". New narratives in eighteenth-century chemistry : contributions from the First Francis Bacon Workshop, 21–23 April 2005, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California. Springer. pp. 97–137. ISBN 978-9048175932. https://books.google.com/books?id=aurJv9AZgFcC&pg=PA125. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
3. ↑ Rocchietta, S (February 1967). "[The pharmacist Martin Klaproth (1743–1817), pioneer of modern analytical chemistry, discoverer of uranium. On the 150th anniversary of his death]" (in it). Minerva Med. 58 (13): 229. PMID 5336711.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Marshall, James L. Marshall; Marshall, Virginia R. Marshall (2008). "Rediscovery of the elements: Klaproth". The Hexagon: 20–24. http://www.chem.unt.edu/~jimm/REDISCOVERY 7-09-2018/Hexagon Articles/klaproth.pdf. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
5. ↑ Garrison, Ervan (2003). "Instrumental Analytical Techniques for Archaeological Geology". Techniques in Archaeological Geology. Natural Science in Archaeology. Springer. pp. 207–246. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-05163-4_7. ISBN 978-3-662-05163-4. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-05163-4_7.
6. ↑ Dahlkamp, Franz J. (1991). Uranium Ore Deposits. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 5. ISBN 978-3-662-02892-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=uczsCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "KLAPROTH, Martin Heinrich. (1743 - 1817)". https://mineralogicalrecord.com/libdetail.asp?id=762.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Robison, Roger F. (2015). Mining and selling radium and uranium. Springer. pp. 59–60. ISBN 9783319118291. https://books.google.com/books?id=yNClBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Thomson, Thomas (1812). History of the Royal Society: From Its Institution to the End of the Eighteenth Century. London: R. Baldwin. p. lxiv, 485. https://books.google.com/books?id=nqjjR4Qt9IgC&pg=PR64.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Martin Klaproth". Physics Today (12). 1 December 2017. doi:10.1063/PT.6.6.20171201a. Bibcode: 2017PhT..2017l5879.. https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/pt.6.6.20171201a/full/.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Partington, J. R. (1962). History of Chemistry. 3. London: Macmillan. pp. 654–658. ISBN 9781349003099. https://books.google.com/books?id=n1JdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA654. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
12. ↑ Schuettmann, W. (1989). "The discovery of uranium by Martin Heinrich Klaproth 200 years ago". Kernenergie 32 (10): 416–420. https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:20077398.
13. ↑ Klaproth, M. H. (1789). "Chemische Untersuchung des Uranits, einer neuentdeckten metallische Substanz". Chem. Ann. Freunde Naturl. (2): 387–403.
14. ↑ Watt, Susan (2008). The Elements: Zirconium. New York: Marshall Cavendish. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9780761426882. https://books.google.com/books?id=EBUFMgJNYTAC&pg=PA8.
15. ↑ "Zirconium". https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/40/zirconium.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Enghag, Per (27 July 2004). Encyclopedia of the elements : technical data, history, processing, applications. Wiley-VCH. pp. 515. ISBN 9783527306664. https://books.google.com/books?id=fUmTX8yKU4gC&pg=PA515.
17. ↑ Ihde, Aaron J. (1970). The Development of Modern Chemistry (Dover reprint of the 1970 3rd printing by Harper and Row ed.). New York: Harper and Row/Dover. p. 375. ISBN 9780486642352. https://books.google.com/books?id=89BIAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA375.
18. ↑ Kishawy, Hossam A.; Hosseini, Sayyed Ali (2019). Machining difficult-to-cut materials : basic principles and challenges. Springer. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-3-319-95966-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=vYtoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57.
19. ↑ Weeks, Mary Elvira (1956). The discovery of the elements (6th ed.). Easton, PA: Journal of Chemical Education. https://archive.org/details/discoveryoftheel002045mbp.
20. ↑ Weeks, Mary Elvira (March 1932). "The discovery of the elements. V. Chromium, molybdenum, tungsten and uranium". Journal of Chemical Education 9 (3): 459. doi:10.1021/ed009p459. Bibcode: 1932JChEd...9..459W.
21. ↑ Emsley, John (2003). Nature's building blocks : an A-Z guide to the elements. Oxford University Press. pp. 427. ISBN 978-0198503408. https://archive.org/details/naturesbuildingb0000emsl.
22. ↑ Weeks, Mary Elvira (September 1935). "The discovery of tellurium". Journal of Chemical Education 12 (9): 403. doi:10.1021/ed012p403. Bibcode: 1935JChEd..12..403W.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "A Periodic Table of Rejected Element Names". 30 January 2016. https://www.compoundchem.com/2016/01/30/rejectedelements/.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Fontani, Marco; Costa, Mariagrazia; Orna, Mary Virginia (2014). The lost elements : the periodic table's shadow side. Oxford University Press. pp. 79–80. ISBN 9780199383344. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ck9jBAAAQBAJ.
25. ↑ Doyle, W.P.. "Thomas Charles Hope, MD, FRSE, FRS (1766–1844)". http://www.chem.ed.ac.uk/about-us/history/professors/thomas-charles-hope.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Partington, J.R. (15 December 1942). "The early history of strontium". Annals of Science 5 (2): 157–166. doi:10.1080/00033794200201411. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00033794200201411?journalCode=tasc20. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
27. ↑ Kenyon, T. K. (2008). "Science and Celebrity: Humphry Davy's Rising Star". Chemical Heritage Magazine 26 (4): 30–35. https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/science-and-celebrity-humphry-davys-rising-star. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
28. ↑ Davy, Humphry (1808). "Electrochemical Researches, on the Decomposition of the Earths; With Observations in the Metals Obtained from the Alkaline Earths, and on the Amalgam Procured from Ammonia". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 98: 339–340. doi:10.1098/rstl.1808.0023.
29. ↑ Bingham, Eula; Cohrssen, Barbara (2012). Patty's toxicology (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-470-41081-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=1mk3lFVtBSQC&pg=PA117.
30. ↑ Damaschun, Ferdinand; Schmitt, Ralf Thomas (2025) (in de). Uranentdeckung und Mineralanalysen - Die Sammlung Martin Heinrich Klaproth im Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8353-5997-0.
31. ↑ "Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660–2015". London: Royal Society. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml.
32. ↑ "Klaproth H (Moon)". http://wenamethestars.inkleby.com/feature/10367.
33. ↑ "Klaprothia Kunth | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science" (in en). https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:24997-1.
34. ↑ Walravens, H (2006). "Julius Klaproth. His Life and Works with Special Emphasis on Japan". Japonica Humboldtiana 10: 177–191. https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/7404/walravens.pdf.

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