Molybdenum was not discovered until the latter part of the 18thcentury, and does not occur in the metallic form in nature. Despitethis, its predominant mineral - molybdenite - was used in ancienttimes (a 14th-century Japanese sword has been found to containmolybdenum) but would have been indistinguishable from othersimilar materials such as lead, galena and graphite. Collectively,these substances were known by the Greek word “molybdos”, whichmeans lead-like.
Molybdenum was first positively identified in 1778 by a Swedishscientist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Shortly thereafter, in 1782, PeterJacob Hjelm reduced molybdenite oxide with carbon to obtain a darkmetallic powder which he named “molybdenum”.
Molybdenum remained a laboratory curiosity throughout most of the19th century until the technology for the extraction of commercialquantities became practical. In 1891, the French company Schneiderand Co. first used molybdenum as an alloying element in theproduction of armor plates. It was quickly noted that molybdenumwas an effective replacement for tungsten in numerous steelalloying applications because its density is only slightly morethan half that of tungsten.
