Mexico is home to many historical minds. One of their most passionate scientific sons, Andres del Rio, is now recognized as the discoverer of the chemical element vanadium. Here's his story.
Andres del Rio was born in 1764 in Madrid, the capital of Spain. He was a smart child who quickly rose through the ranks at school, and he eventually landed at the University of Alaca de Henares where he studied metallurgy and analytical chemistry. The government of Spain even granted del Rio a scholarship to the School of Mines; after several years there, the budding scientist studied under French chemistry master Jean Darcet, one of the first men to make porcelain.
Del Rio also apprenticed in Freiberg with Abraham Werner, the father of German geology, as well as working with the master of modern chemistry Antoine Lavoisier and Rene Hauy, the founder of crystallography. By the time he was thirty, Andres had been a student of some of Europe's brightest minds; the Spanish government had big plans for him, and it is not surprising.
A new College of Mines was to be be opened in the colony of New Spain, as a place for students to study and advance the metallurgic arts, as decreed by King Charles in 1792. Del Rio was named the head of the mineralogy department at just 28 years old. Andres was a consummate learner and a passionate scientist once he took up residence in Mexico; he often collaborated with other naturalists, and eventually published the first mineralogy book ever to be written in the Americas. Despite his Spanish heritage, del Rio was a liberal man; after the Mexican War of Independence he continued to stay on in the country, and he remained a supporter of the colony's plans for freedom.
Finally in 1801, del Rio made the discovery of his lifetime. One sample that he collected from a mine in Hidalgo turned a brilliant red after being heated. Lavoisier, one of his early teachers, had compiled the very first list of periodic elements; he was convinced that he'd discovered a brand new chemical element. Del Rio named this new compound 'eritronium', and excitedly sent a sample to a chemist friend in Paris for confirmation. But his correspondant found that the rock was nothing but old chromium, used in weapons plating since 200 BC. While del Rio was disappointed at his error, he soon moved on with his studies, and continued teaching in Mexico until his death in 1849.
Andres del Rio's curious rock samples remained a bland curiosity until 1830, when a Swedish chemist discovered the same type of curious rock, which he called vanadium. Del Rio's samples were found to be identical to the Swede's samples, upon comparison; his Parisian friend had actually been the one to have made the mistake, and it turned out that Andres was right after all. Nowadays, vanadium is used to increase the strength of other metals, and can be found in jet engines and power tools.
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