William Hyde Wollaston was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering two chemical elements and for developing a way to process platinum ore into malleable ingots. During his studies he became interested in chemistry, crystallography, metallurgy and physics. In 1800, after he had received a large sum of money from one of his older brothers, he left medicine and concentrated on pursuing these interests instead of his trained vocation.

Smithson Tennant was an English chemist. Tennant is best known for his discovery of the elements iridium and osmium, which he found in the residues from the solution of platinum ores in 1803. He also contributed to the proof of the identity of diamond and charcoal. The mineral tennantite is named after him. He discovered osmium and iridium. He began to study medicine but later he devoted himself to botany and chemistry.