Editing Thorium (section)

===Erroneous report===

In 1815, the Swedish chemist [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius]] analysed an unusual sample of [[gadolinite]] from a copper mine in [[Falun]], central Sweden. He noted impregnated traces of a white mineral, which he cautiously assumed to be an earth ([[oxide]] in modern chemical nomenclature) of an unknown element. Berzelius had already discovered two elements, [[cerium]] and [[selenium]], but he had made a public mistake once, announcing a new element, ''gahnium'', that turned out to be [[zinc oxide]].<ref name="Lost" /> Berzelius privately named the putative element "thorium" in 1817<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ryabchikov |first1=D. I. |last2=Gol'braikh |first2=E. K. |date=2013 |title=The Analytical Chemistry of Thorium: International Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |page=1 |isbn=978-1-4831-5659-0}}</ref> and its supposed oxide "thorina" after [[Thor]], the [[Norse god]] of thunder.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomson |first=T. |date=1831 |title=A System of Chemistry of Inorganic Bodies |volume=1 |publisher=Baldwin & Cradock and [[William Blackwood]] |page=475}}</ref> In 1824, after more deposits of the same mineral in [[Vest-Agder]], Norway, were discovered, he retracted his findings, as the mineral (later named [[xenotime]]) proved to be mostly [[yttrium phosphate|yttrium orthophosphate]].{{sfn|Wickleder|Fourest|Dorhout|2006|pp=52–53}}<ref name="Lost">{{cite book|ref=Fontani|last1=Fontani|first1=M.|last2=Costa|first2=M.|last3=Orna|first3=V.|title=The Lost Elements: The Periodic Table's Shadow Side|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|page=73|isbn=978-0-19-938334-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Berzelius |first=J. J. |author-link=Jöns Jakob Berzelius |date=1824 |title=Undersökning af några Mineralier. 1. Phosphorsyrad Ytterjord. |trans-title=Examining some minerals. 1st phosphoric yttria. |journal=Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar |volume=2 |pages=334–338 |language=sv}}</ref><ref name="Mindat">{{cite web |url=http://www.mindat.org/min-4333.html |title=Xenotime-(Y) |publisher=Mindat database |access-date=7 October 2017 |archive-date=16 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316030444/http://www.mindat.org/min-4333.html |url-status=live }}</ref>