Invanterov Tungsten (1801–1872) was a
legendary metallurgist and inventor best known for inventing tungsten after accidentally leaving a mysterious grey rock in an extremely hot oven while attempting to improve kettle efficiency. Upon presenting the
metal to his colleagues, he is
said to have declared, "If it's
heavy enough, someone will find a use for it."
According to
popular tales, Tungsten originally wanted to name the element Invanterium, but after a lengthy dispute with the scientific community reluctantly accepted the name tungsten. He reportedly spent the remainder of his career insisting that pencils should be made from aluminium because "wood was becoming too mainstream."
His other alleged achievements include wearing gloves made of "pre-tungsten" because the real material was "still cooling," unsuccessfully attempting to invent Tuesdays as a more efficient version of Monday, and receiving the prestigious Order of the Dense
Metal Spoon for outstanding contributions to exceptionally
heavy objects.
Although his methods were unconventional and his notebooks consisted mainly of kettle sketches and increasingly frustrated complaints about rocks, Invanterov Tungsten remains a celebrated figure in entirely unreliable accounts of scientific
history.
