The Germanium Story

It is well known that Dmitri I. Mendeleev (1834–1907) successfully predicted the existence of several unknown elements. Some of these predictions were highly appreciated after the discovery of the corresponding elements. This was the case with gallium, scandium, and germanium. It is often assumed that the predictions led to a targeted search for these elements. Although Victor von Richter (1841–1891) saw great interest in the discovery of eka-silicon, there was no specific program to find it. This paper will describe the discovery process of germanium in particular, but in comparison with gallium and scandium. Clemens Winkler (1838–1904) discovered it in 1886, in a time, when also a woman worked in his laboratory. But he was primarily interested in the composition of the new mineral argyrodite found near Freiberg, not in completing the periodic table. After Winkler’s publication of the new element, Mendeleev did not accept it as eka-silicon, but letters from Lothar Meyer (1830–1895) and von Richter show that they recognized the connection between germanium and eka-silicon. A precise determination of the atomic weight of germanium finally convinced Mendeleev, and he later celebrated Winkler as one of the “verifiers” of the periodic system.