Clemens Alexander Winkler

German chemist
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Quick Facts
Born:
Dec. 26, 1838, Freiberg, Ger.
Died:
Oct. 8, 1904, Dresden (aged 65)
Subjects Of Study:
germanium

Clemens Alexander Winkler (born Dec. 26, 1838, Freiberg, Ger.—died Oct. 8, 1904, Dresden) was a German chemist who discovered the element germanium.

After 12 years managing a cobalt glassworks, Winkler joined the faculty of the Freiberg School of Mining in 1873. In 1886, while analyzing the mineral argyrodite, he discovered germanium. It proved to be the element predicted in 1871 by Dmitry I. Mendeleyev, who had called it ekasilicon.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.