• Zirconium minerals have been around for a long time but have been known as either jargon, jacinth, and hyacinth • Martin Henrich Klaproth who lived between 1742 and 1817, isolated the oxide of zirconium from zircon in 1789 • Zirconium is 25% silica, 5% iron oxide, and 70% zirconia. • Metallic zirconium was first prepared in 1824 by Jons J. Berzelius, a Swedish chemist. • The zirconium-containing mineral zir ...