Carl Axel Arrhenius
|Died||20 November 1824(aged 67)|
|Known for||Discovery of mineral ytterbite|
Carl Axel Arrhenius (29 March 1757 – 20 November 1824) was a Swedish military officer, amateur geologist, and chemist. He is best known for his discovery of the mineral ytterbite (later called gadolinite) in 1787.
The discovery of ytterbite was the first step in identifying an entire group of previously unknown elements, theterbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, and yttrium.
Arrhenius became a lieutenant of the Svea Artillery Regiment of the Swedish army, the regiment being stationed in Vaxholm. As an artillery officer, Arrhenius was assigned to study the characteristics of gunpowder at the Swedish Royal Mint's (Kungliga Myntet) laboratory. Being taught to test gunpowder by Bengt Reinhold Geijer and Peter Jacob Hjelm at the Royal Mint sparked his interest in chemistry and mineralogy, and this experience served as the beginning of his chemical studies. During this time, in 1787, he discovered the mineral ytterbite (later renamed gadolinite).
In 1787 Arrhenius accompanied
Arrhenius then took part in the
Arrhenius became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 1799, and of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1817. He regretted that he had to spend most of his time in "the occupations of practical life" and could not devote himself to studying chemistry. In 1816–1817, then more than sixty years of age, Arrhenius attended the classes of chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, continuing his studies of chemistry.
Carl Axel Arrhenius died on 20 November 1824.
During his time as a lieutenant in Vaxholm, Arrhenius visited the feldspar mine in the village of Ytterby on the island of Resarön. During this visit, in 1787, he found an unusually heavy dark mineral. The mineral's first description was published by Bengt Reinhold Geijer in Crell's Annalen in 1788, where he credited Arrhenius with the discovery of a "Schwerstein" or "heavy rock".
The mineral was eventually sent to the chemist
The rare-earths are chemically very similar to each other, almost always occur together in minerals on earth and are rarely found in isolation from other rare-earth elements. Their similarity and co-existence made their initial identification difficult.: 701 
The discovery of ytterbite was the first step in a long process of investigations by many scientists in different countries. The identification of new "earths" extended over 100 years, and eventually led to the understanding of
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- Gadolin, Johan (1794). "Undersökning af en svart tung Stenart ifrån Ytterby Stenbrott i Roslagen". Kongl. Vetenskaps Academiens Nya Handlingar. 15: 137–155.