Karl Ernst Claus - Ruthenium

Ruthenium

In 1840, Claus, received a substantial amount of platinum ore samples for his studies from the Saint Petersburg Mint and started working on chemistry and isolation of noble metals, in particular rhodium, iridium, osmium, and to a lesser extent, palladium and platinum. In 1844, he discovered a new chemical element, which he named ruthenium after Ruthenia, the Latin name of Russia.

Claus managed not only to isolate ruthenium, but also determine its atomic weight and chemical properties. He noted the similarity of the chemical properties of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium and platinum and meticulously documented his results. For this discovery, he was awarded Demidov Prize of 5,000 rubles (which was of much financial help to his large family). Claus sent samples of new element for analysis to Jöns Jakob Berzelius, who was one of the most renowned scientists in the field of new elements, and thereby became known to European scientists.