Axel Fredrik Cronstedt

Axel Fredrik Cronstedt
Axel Fredrik Cronstedt
Born	December 23, 1722
Died	August 19, 1765
Nationality	Swedish
Fields	chemistry Mineralogy
Known for	nickel tungsten

Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt (/kroonstet/ December 23 1722 – August 19 1765) was a Swedish mineralogist and chemist who discovered nickel in 1751 as a mining expert with the Bureau of Mines. Cronstedt described it as kupfernickel (the devil's copper). He was a pupil of Georg Brandt, the discoverer of cobalt. Cronstedt is sometimes considered one of the founders of the modern mineralogy^[1].

Cronstedt also discovered the mineral scheelite in 1751. He named the mineral tungsten, meaning heavy stone in Swedish. Carl Wilhelm Scheele later suggested that a new metal could be extracted from the mineral. In English, this metal is now known as the element tungsten.

In 1753, Cronstedt was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

In 1756, Cronstedt coined the term zeolite after heating the mineral stilbite with a blowpipe flame.

Cronstedt was described as 'the founder of Mineralogy' by John Griffin in his 1827 A Practical Treatise on the Use of the Blowpipe.

References

• Gusenius, E M (1969). "Beginnings of greatness in Swedish Chemistry. II. Axel Fredrick Cronstedt (1722-1765)". Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci. (UNITED STATES) 72 (4): 476–85. ISSN 0022-8443. PMID 4918973. 
• Cheetham, A.K.; Peter Day (1992). Solid State Chemistry. Clarendon Press. 

External links

• A Practical Treatise on the Use of the Blowpipe by John Griffin, 1827, from Google Book Search

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