Beryllium is a steel-gray metal that is quite brittle at room temperature, and its chemical properties somewhat resemble those of aluminum. It does not occur free in nature. Beryllium is found in beryl and emerald, minerals that were known to the ancient Egyptians. Although it had long been suspected that the two minerals were similar, chemical confirmation of this did not occur until the late 18th century. Emerald is now known to be a green variety of beryl. Beryllium was discovered (1798) as the oxide by French chemist Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin in beryl and in emeralds and was isolated (1828) as the metal independently by German chemist Friedrich Wöhler and French chemist Antoine A.B. Bussy by the reduction of its chloride with potassium.

Beryllium is widely distributed in Earth’s crust and is estimated to occur in Earth’s igneous rocks to the extent of 0.0002 percent. Its cosmic abundance is 20 on the scale in which silicon, the standard, is 1,000,000. The United States has about 60 percent of the world’s beryllium and is by far the largest producer of beryllium; other major producing countries include China, Mozambique, and Brazil. Application Areas of Titanium