BIBLIOGRAPHY

Transition metal, element 72, symbol Hf, discovered 1923 by Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy using X-ray spectroscopy. The possible existence of Hafnium had been predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev when he compiled his periodic table as early as 1869, and a more certain prediction by Henry Moseley (also using X-ray spectroscopy) followed in 1914. A discovery published in 1911 by Georges Urbain of an element in this position, which he dubbed "celtium", turned out to be a false lead.

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