• Antimony was known to medieval alchemists, and the date of its discovery is generally accepted to be around 1450. Its alchemical symbol is shown below:

• Although its orginial discoverer is unknown, antimony was first specifically studied by Nicolas Lémery (1654-1715), a French chemist and one-time Apothecary Jardin du Roi in Paris.
• Whilst recognised in its elemental form from around 1450, the natural sulphide of antimony (stibnite) was known in Biblical times, and used extensively in the ancient world as a cosmetic.
• The name for modern eye make-up comes from the town of Mascara in Algeria, where stibnite was reputedly used in this way.
• The name "antimony" comes from two Greek words: 'anti' meaning not and 'monos' meaning alone, from the observation that the element is rarely found natively, but often occurs as compounds, or with heavier metals such as lead, copper and silver.
• The symbol for antimony, Sb comes from the Latin word Stibium, which was derived from the Greek name for the Stibnite powder used as a cosmetic. This was in turn taken from the Coptic word for the same (Coptic being a language descended from ancient Egyptian).
• Pliny, a Roman archivist and historian wrote about the use of stibnite as a medicine, and it seems likely that other ancient cultures used the mineral in this way.
• Because of its distinctive dark colour and opacity, stibnite was ground and used as a pigment in the middle ages.
• Industrial uses of antimony primarily revolve around electricity, and so were mainly explored in the 20th century.
• As little as 30 years ago, (highly pure) antimony found use in semi-conductor technology (see the uses page).