Smithson Tennant

Smithson Tennant ( born November 30, 1761 Selby, North Yorkshire, England; † February 22, 1815 in Boulogne ) was an English chemist.

Tennant lost both parents early. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University, then chemistry at Cambridge. In 1813 he was appointed professor there.

He led, together with his assistant William Hyde Wollaston proof that a diamond is pure carbon. He succeeded by oxidized equal masses of coal and diamond and as a single product in each case was the same mass of CO2.

In 1804 he discovered iridium and osmium as impurities in platinum. He died in a riding accident.

According to him, the mineral tennantite is named.