Charles Hatchett FRS (2 January 1765 – 10 March 1847[1]) was an English chemist who discovered the element niobium.[2]

Life

Hatchett was born, raised, and lived in London. On 24 March 1787, he married Elizabeth Collick at St Martin's-in-the-Fields, with issue including:

1. John Charles Hatchett (bapt 27 January 1788 St Martin's-in-the-Fields)
2. Anna Hatchett, who married William Brande

Hatchett died in London and is buried at St Laurence's Church, Upton, Slough, the same church where William Herschel is interred.
Columbite

In 1801 while working for the British Museum in London, Hatchett analyzed a piece of columbite in the museum's collection. Columbite turned out to be a very complex mineral, and Hachett discovered that it contained a "new earth" which implied the existence of a new element. Hatchett called this new element columbium (Cb). On 26 November of that year he announced his discovery before the Royal Society.[3][4] The element was later rediscovered and renamed niobium (its current name).

Later in life, Hatchett quit his job as a chemist to work full time in his family's coach fabrication business.
Award

Since 1979, the Institute of Materials (London) has given the Charles Hatchett Award yearly to a noted chemist. The award is given to the "author of the best paper on the science and technology of niobium and its alloys."
References

1. ^ GRO Register of Deaths: MAR 1847 III 40 CHELSEA - Charles Hatchett, age unknown
2. ^ William P. Griffith and Peter J. T. Morris (2003). "Charles Hatchett FRS (1765-1847), Chemist and Discoverer of Niobium". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 57 (3): 299. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2003.0216. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3557720.
3. ^ Charles Hatchett (1802). "An Analysis of a Mineral Substance from North America, Containing a Metal Hitherto Unknown". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 92: 49–66. doi:10.1098/rstl.1802.0005. http://www.jstor.org/stable/107114.
4. ^ Charles Hatchett (1802). "Eigenschaften und chemisches Verhalten des von Charlesw Hatchett entdeckten neuen Metalls, Columbium". Annalen der Physik 11 (5): 120–122. doi:10.1002/andp.18020110507.

Further reading

* Weeks, Mary Elvira (1932). "The Discovery of the Elements: VII. Columbium, Tantalum, and Vanadium". Journal of Chemical Education 9 (5): 863 – 884. doi:10.1021/ed009p863. http://search.jce.divched.org/JCEIndex/FMPro?-db=jceindex.fp5&-lay=wwwform&combo=vanadium&-find=&-format=detail.html&-skip=14&-max=1&-token.2=14&-token.3=10. - subscription required

External links

* Childs, Peter E.. "The Curious Case of Columbium". http://www.ul.ie/~childsp/CinA/Issue65/TOC43_Columbian.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
* Charles Hatchett Award

List of chemists

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