I.

Introduction

Beryllium, symbol Be, gray, brittle metallic element, with an atomic number of 4. It is in group 2 (or IIa) of the periodic table (see Periodic Law). Beryllium was named for its chief mineral, beryl, an aluminum beryllium silicate. It was discovered as an oxide, now known as beryllia, in 1797 by French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin. The free element was first isolated in 1828 independently by Friedrich Wöhler and Antonine Alexandre Brutus Bussy. Because the soluble compounds are sweet-tasting, the new element was first called glucinium, a reference to the sugar glucose.