Jun 4, 2026 · 8 min · 8 segments
Helium is a very common element in our universe. However, due to its characteristics, it's very rarely found on Earth. This video shows how scientists in the 19th century overcame this obstacle, over…
While elements like nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen were discovered around the 1770s, helium wasn't discovered until 1868, stemming from an intriguing coincidence regarding two scientists, French astronomer Pierre Jules Janssen and English astronomer Joseph Norman Lockyer.
He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Paris, eventually becoming a professor of architecture there in 1864.
Jules integrated himself with various topics of study in math and science, ranging from geophysics to architecture to astronomy.
Norman Lockyer, on the other hand, was born twelve years after Janssen in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, in 1836.
He received an education through travel throughout France and Switzerland and took up astronomy as a passion-fueled hobby.
In the 1860s, Lockyer's passion tunneled in specifically on spectroscopy, the field of study that observes spectra of light emitted by objects.
While elements like nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen were discovered around the 1770s, helium wasn't discovered until 1868, stemming from an intriguing coincidence regarding two scientists, French astronomer Pierre Jules Janssen and English astronomer Joseph Norman Lockyer.
He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Paris, eventually becoming a professor of architecture there in 1864.
Jules integrated himself with various topics of study in math and science, ranging from geophysics to architecture to astronomy.
Norman Lockyer, on the other hand, was born twelve years after Janssen in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, in 1836.
He received an education through travel throughout France and Switzerland and took up astronomy as a passion-fueled hobby.
In the 1860s, Lockyer's passion tunneled in specifically on spectroscopy, the field of study that observes spectra of light emitted by objects.
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