Biography of smithson tennant

English chemist (–)

Smithson TennantFRS (30 November ^[1] – 22 February ^[2]) was an English chemist. He is best known for his discovery of the elements iridium and osmium, which he found in the residues from the solution of platinum ores in He also contributed to the proof of the identity of diamond and charcoal.

The mineral tennantite is named after him.

Life

Tennant was born in Selby in Yorkshire.

Biography of smithson tennant

His father was Calvert Tennant (named after his grandmother Phyllis Calvert, a granddaughter of Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore). His own name derives from his grandmother Rebecca Smithson, widow of Joshua Hitchling. He attended Beverley Grammar School and there is a plaque over one of the entrances to the present school commemorating his discovery of the two elements, osmium and iridium.

He began to study medicine at Edinburgh in , but after a few months moved to Cambridge, where he devoted himself to botany and chemistry. He gradua