Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein

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Franz-Joseph Müller Freiherr von Reichenstein or Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein (in Hungarian Müller F. József) was a Hungarian mineralogist who discovered Tellurium in 1782.

He was born on the July 1, 1740 Nagyszeben (Hermannstadt) Transylvania, or 4 October 1742 in Poysdorf, (Lower Austria), and died on the October 12, 1825 in Vienna.

He studied philosophy in Vienna but became a specialist in mineralogy.

In 1778 he discovered an occurrence of Tourmaline in the Zillertal.

In 1782 or 1783, as the main overseer of mines in Hungary, he analyzed a bluish gold ore from Transylvania known as 'German Gold'. He extracted a metal believing it to be antimony. Soon he verified that it was an unknown chemical element, however did not continue the research in relation to this new element.

In 1798, the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth isolated the new element and it called it tellurium, but gave the credit of the discovery to the Baron.

[edit] Notes

Note regarding personal names: Freiherr is a title, translated as Baron, not a first or middle name. The female forms are Freifrau and Freiin.