Elementymology & Elements Multidict

memory peg	Dark gray metal melting point 2617 °C; 4743 °F boiling point 4612 °C; 8334 °F density 10.33 g/cc; 638.01 pounds/cubic foot
1778 Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Sweden
μολυβδος (molybdos) = lead ore (Greek)

The name Molybdenum dates back to ancient times. The Greek physician Dioscurides, residing in Rome in the first century AD gave the name μολυβδος [molybdos] (later molybdos, molybdän, or molybdenum) to a number of substances that loose color like lead, they include all soft black minerals that leave black marks, such as galena (PbS), graphite (native C in hexagonal crystals, often named "plumbago" and "black lead"), Sb₂S₃, MoS₂ and other lead ores; cf. the Greek name for the element lead.

In 1754 Bengt Qvist investigated molybdenite (MoS₂) from the Bispberg Iron mine in Säter (Sweden), which was suspected to contain lead and to be identical with graphite. He found that when muffled gave off dense black fumes and sulphurous odor, leaving glistening white crystals. Eliminating Lead as an ingredient, he concluded molybdenite contained something metallic.

In 1778 the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) conducted further research on molybdenite and produced the oxide of a new element. He concluded also that it did not contain lead as was suspected and reported that the mineral contained a new element that he called Molybdenum after the mineral. He published his findings in a Treatise on Molybdena. Molybdenum metal was isolated in 1782 (or 1781) by the Swedish mineralogist Peter Jacob Hjelm (1746-1813).

• Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, comp. rev. by Henry M. Leicester (Easton, Pa.: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968), pp. 260-266.
• IMOA. History of Molybdenum.