Smithson Tennant
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Smithson Tennant FRS (30 November 1761[1] – 22 February 1815[2]) was an English chemist. He is best known for his discovery of the elements iridium and osmium, which he found in the residues from the solution of platinum ores in 1803. He also contributed to the proof of the identity of diamond and charcoal. The mineral tennantite is named after him.
Life
Tennant was born in Selby in Yorkshire. His father was Calvert Tennant (named after his grandmother Phyllis Calvert, a granddaughter of Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore). His own name derives from his grandmother Rebecca Smithson, widow of Joshua Hitchling. He attended Beverley Grammar School and there is a plaque over one of the entrances to the present school commemorating his discovery of the two elements, osmium and iridium. He began to study medicine at Edinburgh in 1781, but after a few months moved to Cambridge, where he devoted himself to botany and chemistry. He graduated M.D. at Cambridge in 1796,[3] and about the same time purchased an estate near Cheddar, where he carried out agricultural experiments. He was appointed professor of chemistry at Cambridge in 1813, but lived to deliver only one course of lectures, being killed near Boulogne-sur-Mer by the fall of a bridge over which he was riding.
Legacy
In 2006, American Elements discovered new technology allowing for the casting of seamless iridium rings for use in spacecraft and satellites. In 2016, the company utilized the same technology to introduce a line of iridium wedding bands marketed under the trademark Smithson Tennant.[4]
Notes
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References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
- Mary D. Archer, Christopher D. Haley. The 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge. Cambridge, 2005, Template:ISBN.
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External links
- Template:Wikisource author-inline
- Osmium and Iridium Events Surrounding Their Discoveries Template:Webarchive
- Passages from the life of a philosopher by Charles Babbage
- The Early Life of Smithson Tennant FRS (1761–1815)
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Template:Copley Medallists 1801-1850 Template:1702 Chairs of Chemistry (University of Cambridge) Template:Authority control
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- 1761 births
- 1815 deaths
- People from Selby
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
- Discoverers of chemical elements
- Professors of chemistry (Cambridge, 1702)
- Recipients of the Copley Medal
- Accidental deaths in France
- 18th-century English chemists
- 19th-century English chemists
- Iridium
- Osmium
- People educated at Beverley Grammar School