Editing Columbite (section)

== History and etymology ==
This mineral group was first found in [[Haddam, Connecticut]], in the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Edgar F. |date=1905 |title=Observations on Columbium and Tantalum |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/983511 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=44 |issue=180 |pages=151–158 |jstor=983511 |issn=0003-049X}}</ref> The occurrence of columbite in the United States was made known on April 13, 1905, through the publication of research into the composition of an older specimen, presumably stemming from [[John Winthrop the Younger|John Winthrop]] (1606–1676), first Governor of the [[Connecticut Colony]] and avid mineral collector. Amidst 600 other samples, the relevant specimen had been donated by the Governor's namesake and grandson, [[Wait Winthrop#Son|John Winthrop]] (1681–1747) to [[Hans Sloane]], President of the [[List of presidents of the Royal Society|Royal Society]] of London, upon Winthrop's becoming a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society W,X,Y,Z|Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1737.<ref>
{{cite web 
|url         = https://archive.org/details/mobot31753002152251 
|title       = Art. V. Selections from an Ancient Catalogue of objects of Natural History, formed in New England more than one hundred years ago 
|website     = The Amer. J. Science and Arts 47
|last        = Winthrop
|first       = John
|editor1-last  = Silliman
|editor1-first = Benjamin
|year        = 1844 
|publisher   = Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy
|location    = New Haven
|page        = 282
|access-date = 12 February 2015 
|quote       = ...&nbsp;(p.282:) ''Mr. Winthrop was grandson of the first governor of Connecticut, great grandson of the first governor of Massachusetts'' ... (p.290:) A black mineral ... ''Is this the Columbite? ... it appeared that it had been sent ... to Sir Hans Sloane, by Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts.'' ...'
}}</ref>

In 1801, [[Charles Hatchett]] had discovered the element [[niobium]] in the same specimen,<ref>
{{cite journal 
|url         = http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/57/3/299.full.pdf
|title       = Charles Hatchett FRS (1765–1847), Chemist and Discoverer of Niobium 
|journal     = Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 
|last1       = Griffith
|first1      = William P.
|last2       = Morris
|first2      = Peter J.T.
|date        = 22 September 2003
|volume = 57 
|issue = 3 
|publisher   = The Royal Society Publishing
|location    = London
|page        = 359
|doi = 10.1098/rsnr.2003.0216 
|s2cid = 144857368 
|access-date = 12 February 2015 
|quote       = ...&nbsp;In 1800–01, while he was arranging some minerals at the British Museum in Bloomsbury, he became particularly interested in a specimen which was described in Sir Hans Sloane’s catalogue of the ‘Metalls’, no. 2029 from his collection, as ‘a very heavy black stone with golden streaks ... from Nautneague. From Mr. Winthrop’ ... ''The donor was probably John Winthrop (1681–1747), a great-grandson of the founder of Massachusetts Bay colony.'' When Winthrop was elected FRS in 1734 he gave Sir Hans Sloane, then President of the Society, a collection of about 600 minerals.&nbsp;...'
}}</ref> which he had named columbium in honour of explorer [[Christopher Columbus]].<ref>
{{cite book 
|url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=UL8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA582
|title       = System of Mineralogy, Vol. II.
|last        = Jameson
|first       = Robert
|year        = 1805
|publisher   = Bell and Bradfute (et al.)
|location    = Edinburgh
|page        = 582
|access-date = 15 February 2015 
|quote       = ...&nbsp;Mr Hatchett found it to contain a metal, which, from its properties, could not be referred to any hitherto known; hence he was of opinion that it should be considered as ''a new genus, to which he gave the name Columbium, in honour of the discoverer of America''.&nbsp;...'
}}</ref>