- Smithson Tennant
Smithson Tennant (
November 30 ,1761 -February 22 ,1815 ) was an Englishchemist .Tennant is best known for his discovery of the elementsiridium andosmium , which he found in the residues from the solution ofplatinum ores in 1803. He also contributed to the proof of the identity ofdiamond andcharcoal . The mineralTennantite is named after him.Tennant was born in
Selby inYorkshire . He attendedBeverley Grammar School (the oldest state school in Britain, founded AD700) 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 studymedicine at Edinburgh in 1781, but in a few months moved toCambridge , where he devoted himself tobotany andchemistry . He graduated M.D. at Cambridge in 1790, and about the same time purchased an estate nearCheddar , 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 nearBoulogne-sur-Mer by the fall of a bridge over which he was riding.References
*1911
Further reading
Mary D. Archer, Christopher D. Haley. "The 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge". Cambridge, 2005, ISBN 0521828732, 9780521828734.
External links
* [http://www.platinummetalsreview.com/dynamic/article/view/48-4-182-189 Osmium and Iridium Events Surrounding Their Discoveries]
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