Johan August Arfwedson (12 January 1792 – 28 October 1841) was a Swedish

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

who discovered the

chemical element A chemical element is a species of atoms that have a given number of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei, including the pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of that species. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements canno ...

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense soli ...

in 1817 by isolating it as a salt.

Life and work

Arfwedson belonged to a wealthy bourgeois family, the son of the wholesale merchant and factory owner Jacob Arfwedson and his spouse, Anna Elisabeth Holtermann. The younger Arfwedson matriculated as a student at the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

in 1803 (at the time, matriculating at a young age was common for aristocratic and wealthy students), completed a degree in Law in 1809 and a second degree in

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...

in 1812. In the latter year, he received an unpaid position in the Royal Board of Mines, where he advanced to the position of notary (still without a salary) in 1814. In

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, Arfwedson knew the chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius and received access to his private laboratory, where he discovered the element

in 1817, during analysis of the mineral

petalite Petalite, also known as castorite, is a lithium aluminum phyllosilicate mineral Li Al Si4 O10, crystallizing in the monoclinic system. Petalite occurs as colorless, pink, grey, yellow, yellow grey, to white tabular crystals and columnar masses. ...

. From page 45: ''"Herr ''August Arfwedson'', ein junger sehr verdienstvoller Chemiker, der seit einem Jahre in meinem Laboratorie arbeitet, fand bei einer Analyse des Petalits von Uto's Eisengrube, einen alkalischen Bestandtheil, … Wir haben es ''Lithion'' genannt, um dadurch auf seine erste Entdeckung im Mineralreich anzuspielen, da die beiden anderen erst in der organischen Natur entdeckt wurden. Sein Radical wird dann Lithium genannt werden."'' (Mr. ''August Arfwedson'', a young, very meritorious chemist, who has worked in my laboratory for a year, found during an analysis of petalite from Uto's iron mine, an alkaline component … We've named it ''lithion'', in order to allude thereby to its first discovery in the mineral realm, since the two others were first discovered in organic nature. Its radical will then be named "lithium".) The actual isolation of lithium metal would be done by others. In 1818 and 1819, Arfwedson made a European journey, partly in the society of Berzelius. After coming home, Arfwedson built his own laboratory on his estate. He spent the larger part of his remaining life administering and multiplying his inherited wealth. He was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

in 1821. The rare

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

arfvedsonite was named after him.

Life and work

See also

References

Further reading