 Rhenium ( Latin : <unk> meaning : " Rhine " ) was the last @-@ discovered of the elements that have a stable isotope ( other new elements discovered in nature since then , such as francium , are radioactive ) . The existence of a yet @-@ undiscovered element at this position in the periodic table had been first predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev . Other calculated information was obtained by Henry Moseley in 1914 . It is generally considered to have been discovered by Walter Noddack , Ida <unk> , and Otto Berg in Germany . In 1925 they reported that they had detected the element in platinum ore and in the mineral columbite . They also found rhenium in gadolinite and molybdenite . In 1928 they were able to extract 1 g of the element by processing 660 kg of molybdenite . It was estimated in 1968 that 75 % of the rhenium metal in the United States was used for research and the development of refractory metal alloys . It took several years from that point before the superalloys became widely used . 
