Walter Noddack

<h2 id="rhenium">Rhenium</h2>
<p>They named element 75 rhenium (<a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> <i>Rhenus</i> meaning "<a href="/facts/Rhine/MgJ88oaz">Rhine</a>").<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Rhenium/TzyqJYEn">Rhenium</a> was the last element to be discovered having a stable isotope.  The existence of a yet undiscovered element at this position in the <a href="/facts/Periodic_table/umdGIfUb">periodic table</a> had been predicted by <a href="/facts/Henry_Moseley/W6Kd359o">Henry Moseley</a> in 1914. In 1925 they reported that they detected the element in platinum ore and in the mineral <a href="/facts/Columbite/TLtIHgpR">columbite</a>. They also found rhenium in <a href="/facts/Gadolinite/kahQI57c">gadolinite</a> and <a href="/facts/Molybdenite/jatlEkxR">molybdenite</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> In 1928 they were able to extract 1 g of the element by processing 660 kg of molybdenite. These achievements led to Walter and Ida being awarded the <a href="/facts/German_Chemical_Society/Jn2DuBo6">German Chemical Society</a>'s prestigious <a href="/facts/Liebig_Medal/nzBdS4NI">Liebig Medal</a> in 1931. <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
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<h2 id="technetium">Technetium</h2>
<p>Element 43 was named masurium (after <a href="/facts/Masuria/jhPsITl1">Masuria</a> in <a href="/facts/Eastern_Prussia/Grx2crbv">Eastern Prussia</a>). The group bombarded <a href="/facts/Ferrocolumbite/TLtIHgpR">columbite</a> with a beam of <a href="/facts/Electron/L0KBo5cW">electrons</a> and deduced element 43 was present by examining <a href="/facts/X-ray/wseP79cN">X-ray</a> diffraction <a href="/facts/Spectrogram/Jt8zHI0H">spectrograms</a>. The <a href="/facts/Wavelength/kcJU0ymz">wavelength</a> of the X-rays produced is related to the atomic number by a formula derived by <a href="/facts/Henry_Moseley/W6Kd359o">Henry Moseley</a>.  The team claimed to detect a faint X-ray signal at a wavelength produced by element 43.  Contemporary experimenters could not replicate the discovery, and in fact it was dismissed as an error for many years.
</p><p>It was not until 1998 that this dismissal began to be questioned.  John T. Armstrong of the <a href="/facts/National_Institute_of_Standards_and_Technology/gr9Fnh85">National Institute of Standards and Technology</a> ran computer simulations of the experiments and obtained results very close to those reported by the 1925 team; the claim was further supported by work published by David Curtis of the <a href="/facts/Los_Alamos_National_Laboratory/tlrLkV7r">Los Alamos National Laboratory</a> measuring the (tiny) natural occurrence of technetium.  Debate still exists as to whether the 1925 team actually did discover element 43.
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<h2 id="academic-career">Academic career</h2>
<p>Noddack was born in <a href="/facts/Berlin/pMTIRNXK">Berlin</a>. He became professor for physical chemistry at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Freiburg/38naUTYA">University of Freiburg</a> in 1935 and in 1941 at the <a href="/facts/Reichsuniversit%25C3%25A4t_Stra%25C3%259Fburg/ETVFQ6xq">Reichsuniversität Straßburg</a>. After <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> he changed to the <a href="/facts/University_of_Bamberg/cMe3KT09">University of Bamberg</a> and in 1956 he became director of the newly founded Research Institute for <a href="/facts/Geochemistry/05094gDu">geochemistry</a> there. He died in Berlin.
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<ul><li>Otto Bayer; Ludwig Holleck; John Eggert; Heinrich Remy (1963). "Obituary: Walter Noddack. 1893-1960 (Zu seinem 70. Geburtstag am 17. August 1963)". <i><a href="/facts/Chemische_Berichte/u7yEqybf">Chemische Berichte</a></i>. 96 (8): XXVIIA–LIA. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fcber.19630960844">10.1002/cber.19630960844</a>.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Tilgner, Hans Georg (2000). Forschen Suche und Sucht (in German). Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-89811-272-7. <a href="978-3-89811-272-7" target="_blank">978-3-89811-272-7</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Noddack, W.; Tacke, I.; Berg, O (1925). "Die Ekamangane". Naturwissenschaften. 13 (26): 567–574. Bibcode:1925NW.....13..567.. doi:10.1007/BF01558746. S2CID 32974087. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>J. Noddack, W.; Noddack, W. (1929). "Die Herstellung von einem Gram Rhenium". Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie (in German). 183 (1): 353–375. doi:10.1002/zaac.19291830126. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Walter Noddack open-in-new

Walter Noddack