A Brief History Of The Discovery Of Indium

The element indium was discovered in 1863 by Reich and Richter of Germany when they studied sphalerite by spectrometry.

The discovery of indium is due to the discovery of the element thallium. After thallium was discovered and obtained, Reich, a professor of physics at the Freiberg School of Mines in Germany, was interested in some properties of thallium and hoped to get enough metal for experiments. Research. He began searching for the metal in 1863 at the zinc mines at Himmelsfüst in Freiburg. The main components of this ore are arsenic-containing pyrite, sphalerite, leadite, silica, manganese, copper and a small amount of tin and cadmium. Reich thinks it may also contain thallium. Although the experiment took a lot of time, he did not get the desired element. However, he got a straw-yellow precipitate of unknown composition, which he believed to be a sulfide of a new element.

Only analysis using spectra can prove this hypothesis. However, Reich was colorblind and had to ask his assistant H.T. Richter to conduct spectral analysis experiments. Richter succeeded in the first experiment. He found an indigo blue bright line in the spectroscope. The position did not coincide with the two blue bright lines of cesium. From the Greek word "indikon" (indikon) Name it indium (indium). The two scientists jointly signed the report on the discovery of indium. The separation of metal indium was accomplished by both of them. They first isolated the chloride and hydroxide of indium and reduced it to metallic indium on charcoal using a blowpipe, which was exhibited at the French Academy of Sciences in 1867.