Cobalt: historical information

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Cobalt was discovered by Georg Brandt at 1735 in Sweden. Origin of name: from the German word "kobald" meaning "goblin" or evil spirit. Further information on origin of name and discovery dates

Minerals containing cobalt were of value to the early civilisations of Egypt and Mesopotamia for colouring glass deep blue.

Cobalt was announced to be an element by Georg Brandt about 1739 (or possibly 1735). He had been trying to demonstrate that the blue colour of glass was because of a new element, cobalt, rather than bismuth, an element often found in the same locations as cobalt.

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cobalt atomic number