Astrid Cleve Von Euler was someone knowledgeable in a multitude of scientific fields. She was initially interested in botany and earned her doctorate in the subject at Uppsala University in 1898. In doing so, she became the first woman in Sweden with a Ph.D. in science. However, after World War I, she shifted her focus to research in geology and archaeology. But ultimately, her main focus was on chemistry.
Von Euler was interested in investigating the properties of ytterbium. Ytterbium (Yb) is a rare earth metal element that had been discovered in 1878 by Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac (1817-1894). Marignac also co-discovered gadolinium in 1880. Ytterbium has the atomic number 70 and is the 14th element in the lanthanide series.
Von Euler published her results in 1901 in an article called “Bidrag till kännedomen om ytterbium” (“Contributions to Knowledge on ytterbium”), which was published in a journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Being a rare earth metal with not much information known about it, isolating ytterbium was tricky. However, Von Euler was able to produce what appeared to be relatively pure ytterbium. Using this substance, she was able to study a large number of ytterbium compounds and even looked into the electrolytic conductivity of ytterbium.
After Von Euler’s article was published, she was awarded the Lindbom Award, which is given to “anyone in or outside of the Academy, who submits a dissertation with new and important discoveries in the chemical or physical sciences.” As expected, Von Euler was one of the first women to be awarded such a prize, highlighting the impact of her contributions to the chemical world.
In addition to ytterbium, Von Euler was also interested in selenium (Se), which has the atomic number 34. It is considered a nonmetal and has similarities to arsenic. It was discovered in 1817 by Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848), who is considered to be one of the founders of modern chemistry.
Von Euler primarily wanted to make knowledge about selenium more accessible to all. She published a book called Det underbara grundämnet selen (The Wonderful Element Selenium) in 1925. This book used relatively simple terminology and clear explanations to describe the discovery of selenium, its properties, and its applications.