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If you’re wondering who discovered the element mercury, nobody knows that either. The element has been known for thousands of years, and was used by the ancient Chinese.
The element was named after the Roman god Mercury, known for speed and mobility. It is associated with the planet Mercury. The astrological symbol for the planet is also one of the alchemical symbols for the metal (left). Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name became the common name.
The name mercury originated in 6th-century alchemy, in which the symbol of the planet was used to represent the metal; the chemical symbol Hg derives from the Latin hydrargyrum, “liquid silver.” Although its toxicity was recognized at an early date, its main application was for medical purposes.
Mercury is one of the five classical planets visible with the naked eye and is named after the swift-footed Roman messenger god. It is not known exactly when the planet was first discovered - although it was first observed through telescopes in the seventeenth century by astronomers Galileo Galilei and Thomas Harriot.
The difficulty in seeing it notwithstanding, Mercury was known at least by Sumerian times, some 5,000 years ago. In Classical Greece it was called Apollo when it appeared as a morning star just before sunrise and Hermes, the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Mercury, when it appeared as an evening
Geber, Jabir ibn Hayyan, born in Persia (Iran) in the 6th Century AD. Geber systemized and brought experimental methods to alchemy. He believed all metals were based on mercury mixed in different proportions and different purities with sulfur.
The earliest known procedure for extracting mercury was recorded by the natural philosopher Theophrastus, who stated in his work On Stones (fourth century BCE), “Mercury is produced by grinding cinnabar with vinegar in a copper mortar with a copper pestle” (5, SI Appendix, Sources: Ancient recipes on the extraction of mercury, text 1).
In this article, we will explore the major milestones in the history of Mercury observation, from its recognition as a wandering star by ancient civilizations to the exciting discoveries made by NASA's Messenger spacecraft in the 21st century.
In the 6 th century, alchemists changed its name after the fast-moving Roman god, Mercury, with the symbol Hg (from its initial name Hydro-argyros). Mercury was greatly popular, especially in Chinese traditional medicine, due to its unique solid-liquid nature [2].
Mercury itself has been mentioned as early as the 2nd millennium BC by the Sumerians, and recorded by the Babylonians – they called the planet Nabu. The ancient Greeks associated Mercury with the...