He was born in
Göttingen on 2 August 1776 the eldest son of Dr Ernerst Johann Friedrich Stromeyer, professor of medicine at
Göttingen University, and his wife, Marie Magdalena Johanne von Blum. Stromeyer studied Chemistry and Medicine at Göttingen and
Paris and received an MD degree from the
University of Göttingen in 1800, studying under
Johann Friedrich Gmelin and
Louis Nicolas Vauquelin. He was then a professor at the university, and also served as an inspector of apothecaries. His students included
Robert Bunsen. In 1817, whilst studying compounds of
zinc carbonate, Stromeyer discovered the element
cadmium. Cadmium is a common impurity of
zinc compounds, though often found only in minute quantities. He was also the first to recommend starch as a reagent for free
iodine and he studied chemistry of
arsine and
bismuthate salts. In 1819, he was the first scientist to describe the mineral
eudialyte. In 1826, he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being
Edward Turner. As his fellowship was Ordinary (rather than Foreign or Honorary) this means he was physically present in
Edinburgh at that time. The following year he was elected a Foreign Fellow of the
Royal Society of London. In 1832, the mineral
stromeyerite was named in his honour by mineralogist
François Sulpice Beudant. He died in Göttingen on 18 August 1835, aged 59. ==References==