Boron
Boro (B, Z=5)
- Date
- 1808 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard
- People
- 👤 Humphry Davy1778–1829👤 Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac1778–1850👤 Louis Jacques Thénard1777–1857
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Gay-Lussac and Thénard obtained impure boron by reducing boric acid with potassium; Davy achieved it by electrolysis a few days later in London.
Near-simultaneous priority between Paris and London; Moissan obtained pure boron in 1892.
What it led to
- Borosilicate glass (Pyrex)
- Nuclear control rods, thanks to its neutron capture
- High-hardness fibres and ceramics
Built on
- Isolation of potassium
- Borax known since antiquity
Made possible
- Pyrex glass
- P-type doped semiconductors