Phosphorus and its compounds may have been known before Brand's discovery. Old manuscripts refer to materials that glow in the dark. The word used for such materials today is phosphorescent. Early Christians noted the use of "perpetual lamps" that glowed in the dark. The lamps may have contained phosphorus or one of its compounds.
Still, Brand was the first to record the process of making pure phosphorus. No one knows how he decided that urine might contain a chemical that could be used to turn lead into gold. His experiments to find such a chemical were, of course, a failure. But he made an accidental discovery along the way. That discovery was a material that glowed in the dark: phosphorus.
Scientists were fascinated when they heard of Brand's discovery. They tried to repeat his research. Some tried to talk him into selling his discovery to kings and princes. The new element seemed to be a way of getting rich and becoming famous.
But Brand was never interested in these ideas. Instead, he gave away all of the phosphorus he prepared. Other scientists soon began to experiment with the element. One of the first discoveries they made was how dangerous phosphorus is. One scientist wrote that a servant left some phosphorus on top of his bed one day. Later that night, the bed covers burst into flame. The phosphorus had caught fire by itself!
Eventually, Brand's method of making phosphorus became widely known. The element joined iron, gold, silver, arsenic, and the handful of other elements known to early chemists.
Little is known about what happened to Brand after his discovery. In fact, there is no record of where or when he died.
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