Georges Urbain

Georges Urbain ( born April 12, 1872 in Paris, † November 5, 1938 ) was a French chemist.

Life

He studied chemistry at the Sorbonne and in 1899 received his doctorate. Then he was up to his death, high school teacher in Paris. His main area of ​​work was the chemistry of the lanthanides. He realized mainly by spectroscopic methods, that several previously viewed as pure elements lanthanides were in fact mixtures. He isolated and described for the first time lutetium, presented for the first time her pure gadolinium and together with Charles James pure erbium oxide.

In 1919 he founded the Société des terres rares (STR).

In addition, he was also active as an artist as a musician, painter and sculptor.