Charles Hatchett FRS (1765-1847), chemist and discoverer of niobium

charles Hatchett (figure 1), the discoverer of the element now called niobium, was the son of a famous coachbuilder, and delivered in person one of his father's coaches to Catherine the Great. It was partly this journey to St Petersburg that stimulated his life-long interest in chemistry and mineralogy. using an American mineral in the Hans Sloane collection of the British Museum dating back to 1753 he showed that it contained a new element, which he called columbium. The original specimen on which he worked is now in the Natural History Museum, London. In the decade 1796-1806 he made several other chemical discoveries, but later returned to his father's business and became a noted collector of books, paintings, musical instruments and musical manuscripts.