Palladium

precious metals · chemistry · platinum group

Discovered in 1802. An English chemist named William Hyde Wollaston found palladium and named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was named after the Greek goddess Athena.

Silvery and lustrous. Palladium is a rare metal that shines brightly and looks like silver, making it valuable for jewelry and other special uses.

Part of the platinum family. Palladium belongs to a group of six metals called the platinum group metals, which all have similar chemical properties but palladium is the lightest and melts at the lowest temperature.