24 September 2009
Strontium, element 38, is named for the Scottish mining village of Strontian where the metal was discovered in the late 18th century. In 1808, British chemist Humphry Davy was the first to isolate the element.
Reference to “the Strontian mineral,” naturally occurring strontium carbonate, is found as far back as 1789 in the journal Medical Communications. The name strontium proper was coined by Davy, first appearing in 1808 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society:
I shall venture to denominate the metals from the alkaline earths barium, strontium, calcium, and magnium.
Strontium has the chemical symbol Sr.
Oxford English Dictionary, strontian, 2nd Edition, 1989.
Oxford English Dictionary, strontium, 2nd Edition, 1989.