Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a grayish to white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to group neighbors tin and silicon. Germanium has five naturally occurring isotopes ranging in atomic mass number from 70-76. Few minerals contain it in large concentration. Germanium was discovered comparatively late, despite the fact that it is very abundant in Earth's crust. In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev was able to statisticly predict its existence and some of its properties based on its location on his periodic table of the elements and called the element ekasilicon. A few decades later, Clemens Winkler found Germanium in the mineral argyrodite. Winkler found that his observations agreed with Mendeleev's predictions. After more studying and confirmation of it being a new element, he named the element after his country, Germany.

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