KLAPROTH, Martin Heinrich, a distinguished analytical chemist of Germany, was born at Wernigerode, in Upper Saxony, December 1, 1743. Intended originally for the church, he was sent to school to receive the preparatory training. The harsh treatment he met with gave him a distaste for study, and, bent on becoming an apothecary, he entered the public laboratory of Quedlinburg, where he spent seven years, chiefly in learning to manipulate. He then removed to Hanover, where he spent two years more in the public laboratory of the place. In 1770 he went to Danzig, whence he was recalled to Berlin to assist the famous Valentin Rose. On the death of that eminent chemist in the following year, Klaproth succeeded him in his various offices. In 1787 he was made a member of the Academy of Arts, and, in the following year, of the Academy of Sciences. A few years later he became
professor of chemistry in the Royal Mining Institute, and professor in the Supreme College of Medicine and Health. He died at Berlin, January 1, 1817.
The great value of Klaproth's labours lay in the skill with which he applied chemical analysis to minerals, chiefly with a view to their proper classification. It was thus that he discovered zircon in the jargon of Ceylon; that he demonstrated the presence of potash in volcanic productions; that he made known the sulphate of strontium; that he found potash in the leucite or white garnet; that he discovered in red schorl a new metal, which he named titanium, another in pechblende which he called uranium, and a third in the ore of white gold, to which he gave the name of tellurium. He also made known the molybdate of lead, and proved that the ore of red silver was a sulphuret of silver and antimony. Such are the most important of M. Klaproth's labours, those, in fact, which entitle him to rank amongst the most distinguished chemists of his age; but he published, besides, a considerable number of analyses of fossil substances, which may be found in the Journal de Physique, the Annales de Chimie, the Journal des Mines, and other collections of this sort. He also prepared a mineralogical system, which is mainly founded upon the constituent principles of minerals. His Memoirs of Chemistry have been collected and translated into French by Tassacert, Paris 1807, in two vols. 8vo. Lastly, he composed, in conjunction with Wolf, a Dictionary of Chemistry, in four vols. 8vo; a work which was translated into French by Bouillon-Lagrange and Vogel. Klaproth greatly contributed to advance the science of mineralogy, and his researches have thrown much light on the system of Werner, as well as on the classification of Hatty. His discoveries, and, above all, his particular means of analysis, have served to guide several French chemists, who are indebted to him for part, at least, of the fortunate results which have rewarded their researches.