Johan Gadolin:
Johan Gadolin was a Finnish chemist.
Birth:
June 5, 1760 in Turku, Finland
Death:
August 15, 1852 in Mynämäki, Finland
Claim to Fame:
Gadolin was a Finnish chemist who discovered the element yttrium. Yttrium was the first of the rare earth lanthanide group discovered. He identified yttrium from the mineral from Ytterby, Sweden called yttria. Over the next century, yttria would be a source of nine more rare earth elements where one would be named after Gadolin, gadolinium.
