in 79 AD, and in China, dating from the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) and the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD).

Swedish chemist Georg Brandt (1694-1768) is credited with discovering cobalt c. 1735, showing it to be a previously unknown element, distinct from bismuth and other traditional metals. Brandt called it a new "semi-metal".See also: (1) G. Brandt (1746) "Rön och anmärkningar angäende en