Andrés Manuel del Rio, a Spanish mineralogist,…

Andrés Manuel del Rio, a Spanish mineralogist, claims the discovery in 1801 of a new element, which he names erythronium (Greek erythros, “red") after the red color of one of its chemical compounds.

The scientific community dismisses this as impure chromium, however, and while del Rio eventually comes to believe this is so, he is in fact correct, and his erythronium will eventually be rediscovered and named vanadium.