Germanium
Germanio (Ge, Z=32)
- Date
- 1886 · confidence high
- Place
- Freiberg, Saxony, Germany
- Credited to
- Clemens Winkler
- People
- 👤 Clemens Winkler1838–1904
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Winkler isolated it from argyrodite from the Himmelsfürst mine and confirmed it was the 'eka-silicon' predicted by Mendeleev.
The properties predicted by Mendeleev matched with remarkable precision.
What it led to
- The first transistor (Bell Labs, 1947), made of germanium
- Germanium-doped optical fibre
- Infrared optics
Built on
- Periodic law and periodic table1869
- Mineral analysis at the Bergakademie