Carl Axel Arrhenius

Carl Axel Arrhenius ( born March 29, 1757 Stockholm, † November 20, 1824 ) was a Swedish artillery officer and amateur geologist and chemist.

As the son of Professor Jacob Arrhenius he soon turned to the military and became an artilleryman at the site Vaxholm. Between 1788 and 1790 he took part in the Russian - Swedish war. After acquaintance with Peter Jacob Hjelm from the Royal Swedish Münzlaboratorium his interest in mineralogy and chemistry was aroused.

Arrhenius was 1787/88 in the pit Ytterby a hitherto unknown black mineral. This later led to the discovery of the element yttrium. In 1817 he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.