List of Chemical Elements Naming Controversies - Elements 41 and 74

Elements 41 and 74

Charles Hatchett named element 41 columbium in 1801 (Cb), but after the publication of the identity of columbium with tantalum by William Hyde Wollaston in 1802 the claims of discovery of Hattchet were refused. In 1846 Heinrich Rose discovered that tantalite contained an element similar to tantalum and named it niobium.

IUPAC officially adopted niobium in 1950 after 100 years of controversy. This was a compromise of sorts, the IUPAC accepted tungsten instead of wolfram (in deference to North American usage) and niobium instead of columbium (in deference to European usage).