who discovered zirconium

Zirconium was discovered by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1789. He identified zirconium oxide in the mineral zircon and named the element zirconium. However, Klaproth was unable to isolate pure zirconium metal. The pure form of zirconium was first isolated by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1824 by heating a mixture of potassium and potassium zirconium fluoride, obtaining an impure form of the metal. The name "zirconium" is derived from the mineral zircon, which was named from the Persian word "zargun," meaning "gold-colored".