Nils Gabriel Sefström | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 30 November 1845 | (aged 58)
Nationality | Swedish |
Known for | Rediscovery of vanadium |
Scientific career | |
Doctoral advisor | Jöns Jakob Berzelius |
Nils Gabriel Sefström (2 June 1787 – 30 November 1845) was a Swedish chemist. Sefström was a student of Berzelius and, when studying the brittleness of steel in 1830, he rediscovered a new chemical element, to which he gave the name vanadium. [1]
Vanadium was first discovered by the Spanish-Mexican mineralogist Andrés Manuel del Río in 1801. He named it erythronium. Friedrich Wöhler later confirmed that vanadium and erythronium were the same substance. [2]
Sefström was member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1815.
The Spitzbergen glacier Sefströmbreen, [3] and the mountain ridge of Sefströmkammen, are named after him. [4]