In 1777, boric acid was recognized in the hot springs (soffioni) near Florence, Italy, at which point it became known as sal sedativum, with ostensible medical benefits.
Boron compounds were relatively rarely used until the late 1800s when Francis Marion Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company first popularized and produced them in volume at low cost. Boron was not recognized as an element until it was isolated by Sir Humphry Davy and by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard.
In 1808 Davy observed that electric current sent through a solution of borates produced a brown precipitate on one of the electrodes.
Jöns Jacob Berzelius identified boron as an element in 1824.
Sasso was the main source of European borax from 1827 to 1872, when American sources replaced it.
Sasso was the main source of European borax from 1827 to 1872, when American sources replaced it.
Pure boron was arguably first produced by the American chemist Ezekiel Weintraub in 1909. ==Preparation of elemental boron in the laboratory== The earliest routes to elemental boron involved the reduction of boric oxide with metals such as magnesium or aluminium.
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