Joban Gadolin


Gadolin, Joban


Born June 5, 1760, in Turku; died Aug. 15, 1852, in Virmo (now Mynämäki), near Turku. Finnish chemist; corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1811). From 1790 to 1822 he was professor at the university in Abo. In 1794, when investigating a mineral found near Ytterby (Sweden) and subsequently named gadolinite, he found in it a previously unknown “earth,” which was named yttria and was found to be a mixture of oxides of rare-earth metals, one of which was called gadolinium.


Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen in Auswahl. Helsinki, 1910. (With biography, survey of activities, and list of papers by Gadolin.)