William Hyde Wollaston FRS 1766–1828

Discoverer of palladium and rhodium, and the first to produce malleable platinum. Born in Norfolk, Wollaston lived most of his adult life in London.

In 1793 he obtained a doctorate in medicine from Cambridge University. While practicing medicine, he became interested in metallurgy, chemistry, physics and crystallography which from 1800 onward occupied him fully. Wollaston also invented various optical instruments.

He was the first to observe (but uncomprehendingly) the dark lines in the solar spectrum.....he demonstrated the identity of frictional and voltaic electricity....he made important contributions to the design of voltaic batteries (6).

The scale and variety of his research made him one of the most influential scientists of his time