Boron

: This article is about the chemical element. See Boron, Territoire de Belfort for the commune of the Territoire de Belfort département in France. See Robert de Boron for the medieval poet.

History

Compounds of boron (Arabic Buraq from Persian Burah) have been known of for thousands of years. In early Egypt, mummification depended upon an ore known as natron, which contained borates as well as some other common salts. Borax glazes were used in China from 300 AD, and boron compounds were used in glassmaking in ancient Rome.

Related Topics:
Arabic - Persian - Natron - China

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The element was not isolated until 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, and Louis Jacques Thénard, to about 50 percent purity. These men did not recognize the substance as an element. It was Jöns Jakob Berzelius in 1824 who identified boron as an element. The first pure boron was produced by the American chemist W. Weintraub in 1909.

Related Topics:
1808 - Humphry Davy - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac - Louis Jacques Thénard - Jöns Jakob Berzelius

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