Human Accomplishment: William Hyde Wollaston

an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium.

Born

6 August 1766 East Dereham, Norfolk, England

Died

22 December 1828 (aged 62) Chislehurst, England

Nationality

British

Known for

Discoveries of palladium and rhodium Camera lucida Wollaston prism Wollaston wire Wollaston landscape lens coining bicarbonate

Fields

Chemistry Physics

Alma mater

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Awards

Copley Medal (1802) Royal Medal (1828)

adultbasic

Britain

era

1800+

Preceded by

Joseph Banks

Succeeded by

Humphry Davy