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Who discovered gallium and how was it identified?

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A color-coded periodic table of the elements displays each element's symbol and atomic number, with categories such as alkali metals, noble gases, halogens, transition metals, and actinoid elements distinguished by different background colors. — boron group element Modern version of the periodic table of the elements (printable).

Gallium was discovered in 1875 by the French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran.12

He identified the element by observing its principal spectral lines—distinct light patterns produced when atoms emit or absorb energy at specific wavelengths—while examining material separated from zinc blende. After observing these lines, he successfully isolated the metal and analyzed its properties.2

His findings were significant because the properties of the new element matched those predicted by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev for "eka-aluminum," a hypothetical element Mendeleyev had placed in his periodic table between aluminum and indium. The discovery of gallium served as the first experimental confirmation of Mendeleyev's predictions, which helped lead to the widespread scientific acceptance of the periodic table. Lecoq de Boisbaudran named the element "gallium" in honor of France, known in Latin as Gallia.234