Karl Ernst Claus

Karl Ernst Claus (Russian Карл Карлович Клаус / Karl Karlovich Klaus, . * 11 Januarjul / January 22 1796greg in Dorpat, .. . † 12 Märzjul / March 24 1864greg ibid. ) was a German - Russian pharmacist and chemist who discovered the ruthenium.

Karl Ernst Claus came from a Baltic German family. He worked as a pharmacist in St. Petersburg and Kazan. In 1828, he joined as a signatory of a scientific expedition in the Urals. He painted and collected plants and minerals. In this expedition he learned the metalworking, and began to care for the mining, extractive metallurgy and chemistry.

At the University of Kazan, he wrote his dissertation on "Fundamentals of Analytical Phytochemistry " (biochemistry of plants).

In 1839 he was appointed professor at the Kazan University. His work was now considered the chemistry of the platinum metals. From the waste heaps of platinum recovery he could win by chemical methods still usable platinum. In 1844 he isolated the lightest metal platinum and ruthenium called it, after his father Country (Latin Ruthenia = Rus).