Lithuim History

Petalite, which contains lithium, was first discovered by the Brazilian scientist José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva toward the end of the 1700s on a trip to Sweden. Lithium was discovered by Johann Arfvedson in 1817. Arfvedson found the new element within the minerals spodumene and lepidolite in a petalite ore, LiAl(Si2O5)2, he was analyzing during a routine investigation of some minerals from a mine on the island Utö in Sweden. In 1818 Christian Gmelin was the first to observe that lithium salts give a bright red color in flame. Both men tried and failed to isolate the element from its salts.

The element was not isolated until William Thomas Brande and Sir Humphrey Davy later used electrolysis on lithium oxide in 1818. Bunsen and Matiessen isolated larger quantities of the metal by electrolysis of lithium chloride in 1855. Commercial production of lithium metal was achieved in 1923 by the German company Metallgesellschaft through using electrolysis of molten lithium chloride and potassium chloride. It was apparently given the name "lithium" (Greek λιθοσ (lithos), meaning "stone") because it was discovered from a mineral while other common alkali metals were first discovered from plant tissue.