Nils Gabriel Sefström | |
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| Born | (1787-06-02)2 June 1787 |
| Died | 30 November 1845(1845-11-30) (aged 58) |
| Known for | Rediscovery ofvanadium |
| Scientific career | |
| Doctoral advisor | Jöns Jakob Berzelius |
Nils Gabriel Sefström (2 June 1787 – 30 November 1845) was aSwedish chemist and metallurgist. A protégé ofJöns Jakob Berzelius, he rediscovered the elementvanadium in 1830 while investigating the brittleness ofsteel.[1]
Sefström was born in the parish ofIlsbo inHälsingland, the son of aLutheran minister. After attending the localtrivialskola inHudiksvall and thegymnasium atHärnösand, he enrolled briefly atUppsala University. In 1809 he moved toStockholm, supporting himself as a private tutor while following Berzelius's public lectures. With his mentor's financial backing he completed a medical degree at theKarolinska Institute and served for a short time as an assistant physician at theSeraphim Hospital, but by 1817 he had turned decisively towards chemistry and metallurgy.[1]
Sefström's first teaching posts were at the Royal Military College and theRoyal Caroline Medico-Surgical Institute. In 1822 he became chief teacher of the newly founded School of Mines atFalun, a position he held for sixteen years. Former students later praised his “inexhaustible energy” and strict integrity, qualities that made him widely respected—if occasionally feared.[2]
While at Falun he analysediron ore from the Taberg mine inSmåland and detected traces of an unknown metal. The quantity was minute and easily confused withchromium, but by late 1830 he had isolated enough oxide to justify a visit to Berzelius's private laboratory in Stockholm. The two worked through the Christmas period and, early in January 1831, obtained a pure sample. Sefström proposed the name vanadium (afterVanadís, a poetical name for the Norse goddessFreyja) in reference to both the element’s Scandinavian provenance and the vivid colours of its salts. Berzelius willingly credited the discovery to his former student.[3]
Sefström became a member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1815 and served as its president in 1840–1841. After resigning from the Falun school in 1838 because of ill-health, he accepted a less demanding appointment in Stockholm as scientific adviser to the Board of Mines, where he supervised the mineral cabinet and laboratory of the Mining College. He suffered a stroke and died in Stockholm on 30 November 1845.[1]
The glacierSefströmbreen and the mountain ridgeSefströmkammen inSpitzbergen are named in his honour.[4] Vanadium had in fact been discovered earlier, in 1801, by the Spanish–Mexican mineralogistAndrés Manuel del Río, who called it erythronium; their identity was confirmed byFriedrich Wöhler in 1831.[3]
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