Andres del Rio, Alexander von Humboldt, and the twice discovered element

Abstract

The discovery of vanadium is traced to the contributions of Andres del Rio. The Spanish-Mexican mineralogist Andres del Rio is today acknowledged as the discoverer of vanadium. The initial failure to recognize del Rio's work, and to assign his name, erythronium, to the element was the result of poor communications, reliance on a friend, German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, and, possibly, to prejudice. In this paper these effects will be examd., along with a misinterpreted anal. that also contributed to that failure.