| Smithson Tennant |
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Tennant is best known for his discovery of the elements Iridium and Osmium , which he found in the residues from the solution of Platinum ores in 1804. He also contributed to the proof of the identity of Diamond and Charcoal . The mineral Tennantite is named after him. Tennant was born in Selby in Yorkshire . He attended Beverley Grammar School (the oldest state school in Britain, founded AD700) and there is a plaque over one of the entrances to the present school commemorating his discovery of the two elements, Osmium and Iridium. He began to study Medicine at Edinburgh in 1781 , but in a few months moved to Cambridge , where he devoted himself to Botany and Chemistry . He graduated M.D. at Cambridge in 1790 , and about the same time purchased an estate near Cheddar , where he carried out Agricultural experiments. He was appointed professor of chemistry at Cambridge in 1813 , but lived to deliver only one course of lectures, being killed near Boulogne-sur-Mer by the fall of a bridge over which he was riding. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |