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Tantalum was discovered in [[Sweden]] in 1802 by [[Anders Ekeberg]]. One year earlier, [[Charles Hatchett]] had discovered the element [[Niobium|columbium]].<ref>{{cite journal|title = Charles Hatchett FRS (1765-1847), Chemist and Discoverer of Niobium|first = William P.|last = Griffith|coauthors = Morris, Peter J. T.|journal = Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London|volume = 57|issue = 3|pages = 299|year = 2003|url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/3557720|doi = 10.1098/rsnr.2003.0216}}</ref> In 1809, the English chemist [[William Hyde Wollaston]] compared the oxides derived from both columbium—[[columbite]], with a density 5.918 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, and tantalum—[[tantalite]], with a density 7.935 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, and concluded that the two oxides, despite their difference in measured density, were identical. He decided to keep the name tantalum.<ref name="Wolla">{{cite journal|title = On the Identity of Columbium and Tantalum|pages = 246–252|journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|first = William Hyde|last = Wollaston|authorlink = William Hyde Wollaston|doi = 10.1098/rstl.1809.0017| url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/107264|volume = 99|year = 1809}}</ref> After [[Friedrich Wöhler]] confirmed these results, it was thought that columbium and tantalum were the same element. This conclusion was disputed in 1846 by the German chemist [[Heinrich Rose]], who argued that there were two additional elements in the tantalite sample, and he named them after the children of [[Tantalus]]: niobium (from [[Niobe]], the goddess of tears), and pelopium (from [[Pelops]]).<ref name="Pelop">{{cite journal|title = Ueber die Zusammensetzung der Tantalite und ein im Tantalite von Baiern enthaltenes neues Metall|pages = 317–341|journal = Annalen der Physik|authorlink = Heinrich Rose|language=German|first = Heinrich|last = Rose|doi = 10.1002/andp.18441391006|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15148n/f327.table|volume = 139|issue = 10|year = 1844}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = Ueber die Säure im Columbit von Nordamérika|language=German|pages = 572–577|first = Heinrich|last = Rose|journal = Annalen der Physik|doi = 10.1002/andp.18471460410|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15155x/f586.table |year=1847| volume = 146|issue = 4|authorlink = Heinrich Rose}}</ref> The supposed element "pelopium" was later identified as a mixture of tantalum and niobium, and it was found that the niobium was identical to the columbium already discovered in 1801 by Hattchet.
 
The differences between tantalum and niobium were demonstrated unequivocably in 1864 by [[Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand]],<ref name="Ilmen" /> and [[Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville]], as well as by [[Louis J. Troost]], who determined the empirical formulas of some of their compounds in 1865<ref name="Ilmen">{{cite journal|title = Tantalsäure, Niobsäure, (Ilmensäure) und Titansäure|journal = Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry|volume = 5|issue = 1|year = 1866|doi = 10.1007/BF01302537|pages = 384–389|author= Marignac, Blomstrand, H. Deville, L. Troost und R. Hermann}}</ref><ref name="Gupta"/>. Further confirmation came from the Swiss chemist [[Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac]],<ref>{{cite journal|journal = Annales de chimie et de physique|title = Recherches sur les combinaisons du niobium|pages = 7–75|authorlink = Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac|language=French| first = M. C.|last= Marignac|url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k34818t/f4.table|year= 1866|volume = 4|issue = 8}}</ref> in 1866, who all proved that there were only two elements. These discoveries did not stop scientists from publishing articles about the co-called ''[[ilmenium]]'' until 1871.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Fortgesetzte Untersuchungen über die Verbindungen von Ilmenium und Niobium, sowie über die Zusammensetzung der Niobmineralien (Further research about the compounds of ilmenium and niobium, as well as the composition of niobium minerals)|first = R.|last = Hermann|journal = Journal für Praktische Chemie|language=German|volume = 3|issue = 1|pages =373–427|doi = 10.1002/prac.18710030137|year = 1871}}</ref> De Marignac was the first to produce the metallic form of tantalum in 1864, when he [[redox|reduced]] tantalum chloride by heating it in an atmosphere of [[hydrogen]].<ref name="nauti">{{cite web|url = http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/st2.5/scenes-e/elem/e04100.html|title = Niobium|publisher = Universidade de Coimbra|accessdate = 2008-09-05}}</ref> Early investigators had been only able to produce impure tantalum, and the first relatively pure ductile metal was produced by [[Werner von Bolton]] in 1903. Wires made with metallic tantalum were used for [[light bulb]] filaments until [[tungsten]] replaced it in widespread use.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Scanning Our Past from London The Filament Lamp and New Materials|journal = Proceedings of the IEEE|volume = 89|issue = 3|year = 2001|doi = 10.1109/5.915382|author = Bowers, B.|pages = 413}}</ref>
 
The name tantalum was derived from the name of the mythological [[Tantalus]], the father of [[Niobe]] in [[Greek mythology]]. In the story, he had been punished after death by being condemned to stand knee-deep in water with perfect fruit growing above his head, both of which eternally ''tantalized'' him. (If he bent to drink the water, it drained below the level he could reach, and if he reached for the fruit, the branches moved out of his grasp.)<ref>{{cite journal|journal = Journal of Social Sciences|volume = 1|issue = 4|pages = 238&ndash;239|year = 2005|first = Sule|last = Aycan, Mugla|title = Chemistry Education and Mythology}}</ref> Ekeberg wrote "This metal I call ''tantalum'' … partly in allusion to its incapacity, when immersed in acid, to absorb any and be saturated."<ref>{{Greenwood&Earnshaw|page=1138}}</ref>
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