Where did Klaproths name come from?
Martin Heinrich Klaproth (picture) was an early German chemist. He learned chemistry while working as an apothecary’s assistant, later performing that job in cities like Hannover, Berlin, and Gdask. He was hired by the University of Berlin when it was originally founded in 1810. Klaproth was their first professor of chemistry, a position he held until his death. Klaproth was considered the father of analytical chemistry. Some of his discoveries included uranium, zirconium, chromium, and cerium. His specialty was devising quantitative methods of mineral analysis, which was used extensively in chemical analysis in the field of archaeology. Of course, he had nothing to do with why we selected ‘Klaproth’ as our director of death around here: Klaproth is a Neil Gaiman character from the Sandman series. He’s the Master of Funerary Rites in Necropolis.
