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Dirk Coster
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<p>Dirk Coster (5 October 1889 – 12 February 1950) was a Dutch <a href="/facts/Physicist/cQcgvSIm">physicist</a>. He was a professor of <a href="/facts/Physics/a7aH2y08">physics</a> and <a href="/facts/Meteorology/xblFr28q">meteorology</a> at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Groningen/j7AbDh6z">University of Groningen</a>. </p><p>Coster is known as the co-discoverer of <a href="/facts/Hafnium/rBNnlxDS">hafnium</a> (element 72) in 1923, along with <a href="/facts/George_de_Hevesy/UIENAaSm">George de Hevesy</a>, by means of <a href="/facts/X-ray/wseP79cN">X-ray</a> <a href="/facts/Spectroscopy/mj71FuNK">spectroscopic</a> analysis of <a href="/facts/Zirconium/y7gsoQFz">zirconium</a> ore. Its name is derived from <i>Hafnia</i>, the Latin name for <a href="/facts/Copenhagen/58Tl28IX">Copenhagen</a>, as the discovery took place in that city. </p><p>He helped <a href="/facts/Lise_Meitner/BH51ypJ2">Lise Meitner</a> escape from <a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a>. </p>