who discovered cadmium

Cadmium was discovered in 1817 by Friedrich Stromeyer, a German chemist and physician. He found cadmium as an impurity in zinc carbonate while testing it for purity. Around the same time, German chemist Karl Samuel Leberecht Hermann also independently discovered cadmium in zinc compounds. The element was named after the Latin word "cadmia," referring to calamine, a zinc ore where cadmium was found. Stromeyer isolated the metal by heating and reducing the sulfide from zinc compounds, making him most credited with the discovery.