Helium
Helio (He, Z=2)
- Date
- 1868 · confidence high
- Place
- Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
- Credited to
- Pierre Janssen and Norman Lockyer
- People
- 👤 Joseph Norman Lockyer1836–1920👤 Pierre Janssen1824–1907👤 William Ramsay1852–1916
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
During the 1868 solar eclipse, Janssen and Lockyer detected an unknown yellow spectral line in the solar chromosphere; Ramsay isolated it on Earth in 1895 from cleveite.
Ramsay, Cleve and Langlet isolated it independently in 1895.
What it led to
- The first element discovered beyond Earth by spectroscopy
- Cryogenics and superconductivity (liquefaction of helium by Onnes in 1908)
- Non-flammable airships and balloons
Built on
- Spectral analysis (Bunsen-Kirchhoff)1859-1860
- Spectroscope
- Bunsen and Kirchhoff's spectral analysis
Made possible
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)1973-1977
- Liquefaction of helium
- Magnetic resonance (superconducting magnets)