Fausto Elhuyar
| Fausto Elhuyar | |
|---|---|
Fausto Elhuyar
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| Born | 11 October 1755 Logroño, Spain |
| Died |
6 February 1833 (aged 77) Madrid, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Fields | chemistry |
| Known for | tungsten |
Fausto de Elhuyar (11 October 1755 – 6 February 1833) was a Spanish chemist, and the joint discoverer of tungsten with his brother Juan José Elhuyar in 1783. He was in charge, under a King of Spain commission, of organizing the School of Mines in México City and so was responsible of building an architectural jewel known as the "Palacio de Minería". Elhuyar left Mexico after the Mexican War of Independence, when most of the Spanish residents in Mexico were expelled.
He was born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain son of French parents from Hasparren, France.
Between 1773 and 1777, Elhúyar studied medicine, surgery and chemistry, as well as mathematics, physics and natural history with his brother Juan José Elhuyar in Paris. After graduating, he returned to Spain, where he exercised himself in the study of mineralogy, specially that of the Basque Country and Navarre, where he resided. In 1781, he was appointed a member of the Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País (Royal Basque Society of Friends to the Country), an enlightened institution thanks to which he started teaching as professor of mineralogy and metallurgy in Bergara, the seat of both the Vascongada Society and the University of Vergara (nowadays merged with the University of the Basque Country). During those years, he published numerous articles and dossiers about minerals, ways to extract and purify them, etc., which made him famous throughout Europe as one of the top experts on the subject. In 1780, he started working in the Laboratorium Chemicum of Vergara along with François Chavaneau, with whom he was the first to purify platinum. After several months, he was the first person to discover and isolate tungsten, of which he's credited, along with his brother Juan José, as its discoverer. He also collaborated with Joseph-Louis Proust, the famous French chemist at the service of king Charles IV of Spain, who directed the National Laboratory in Segovia.
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