Müller Von Reichenstein, Ferenc József

Born July 1, 1740, in Nagyszeben, (present-day Sibiu, Rumania); died Oct. 12, 1825, in Vienna. Hungarian mining engineer.

Müller von Reichenstein studied philosophy and law at the University of Vienna. In 1763 he went to study at the higher school of mining in Selmec-es-Bélabánya (Baňiská Ŝtiavnica a Belá), where he was a student and an assistant of the French chemist N. Jacquin. Between 1768 and 1770 he worked as a mine surveyor. He then became director of mines in a number of regions in Hungary and in 1775, director of mines in the Tyrol. In 1779 he became manager of all mining enterprises and salt works in Transylvania.

In 1778, Müller von Reichenstein investigated the properties of tourmaline, which he had found in the Tyrol. In 1782 he discovered a new element in the rocks of Transylvania, and in 1798 the German chemist M. Klaproth named it tellurium.