1844

Ruthenium

• Starting in 1840, Karl Ernst Claus worked
• with platinum ore from the Saint Petersburg mint
• to study the chemistry and isolation
• of rhodium, iridium, osmium, palladium, and platinum.
• In 1844, he discovered a new element
• in the insoluble residue from crude platinum,
• determined its atomic weight, and described its properties.
• He named it after Ruthenia, the Latin name for where he was born.

Atomic number 44

• Wear-resistant electric contacts,
• thick-film resistors,
• fountain-pen nibs,
• jet-engine turbine blades,
• dust for showing fingerprints,
• red stain for microscopy,
• catalyst for removing sulfur from oil.

Parker 51

• In the evening
• I filled the pen with ink.
• Throughout the day
• its ink flowed out.
• Its ink traced
• my life’s outline.
• In the evening
• I filled the pen with ink again.
• *
• My ink flowed through
• a ruthenium nib.
• Silently,
• gracefully.
• Without stopping,
• without blotting.