1. Charles Hatchett FRS FRSE was an English mineralogist and analytical chemist who discovered the element niobium, for which he proposed the name "columbium".
20 Facts About Charles Hatchett
1. 2.
Charles Hatchett was elected to the Literary Club in London in 1809 and became its treasurer in 1829.
3.
Charles Hatchett was born in Long Acre, London to John Hatchett, and Elizabeth Hatchett.
4.
John Charles Hatchett was " the coachbuilders of London of the greatest celebrity".
5.
Charles Hatchett attended a private school, Fountayne's, in Marylebone Park, and was a self-taught mineralogist and analytical chemist.
6.
In 1790, Charles Hatchett again had the opportunity to travel extensively, when his father sent him to deliver a coach to Catherine the Great in St Petersburg.
7.
In 1796 Charles Hatchett took another long tour, this time through England and Scotland, where he visited geological sites, mines, and factories.
8.
In 1800 Charles Hatchett may have opened a small chemical works at Chiswick in London.
9.
In 1798, Charles Hatchett was asked by members of the Privy Council to work with Henry Cavendish and assess "the state of the coins of the realm" to ensure that they were not being adulterated.
10.
Charles Hatchett concluded that 'there was no important defect in the composition or quantity of the standard gold'.
11.
Charles Hatchett developed a collection of over 7000 minerals, which he sold to the British Museum in London in 1799.
12.
Charles Hatchett agreed to organize the museum's mineral collection, but retained the right to remove and analyze portions of some of the specimens.
13.
In 1801, Charles Hatchett analyzed a piece of columbite from the collection at the British Museum.
14.
Charles Hatchett called this new element "columbium" in honour of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America.
15.
Charles Hatchett inherited his father's coach-making business and pursued interests in collecting books manuscripts, paintings, and musical instruments.
16.
Charles Hatchett lived at Mount Clare, Roehampton from 1807 to 1819.
17.
In 1818 Charles Hatchett either bought back or chose to no longer lease out the house that had been built by his father in 1771, Belle Vue, 92 Cheyne Walk, in Chelsea, London.
18.
Charles Hatchett lived there for the rest of his life.
19.
Charles Hatchett himself died at Belle Vue House in 1847, and is buried at St Laurence's Church, Upton-cum-Chalvey, Slough, the same church where his friend William Herschel is interred.
20.
Charles Hatchett was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society in 1798.