The Bizarre Origins of Phosphorus

In 1669, an alchemist boiled pee for 2 weeks straight and ended up discovering our 15th element on the periodic table: phosphorus

Alchemist, Hennig Brandt, literally identified the P in “pee”!

This was one of the most consequential finds in chemistry and the race to source more of it has become a major conversation in modern day. More on that tomorrow!

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