Vanadium was discovered twice. The first time was in 1801 by mineralogist professor Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Elizalde in Mexico City. He discovered it in a solution of metavanadate, which turned a bright red upon heating, hence the name "Eritroni," meaning "red." He sent the substance to Paris, but French chemists concluded it was a contaminated chrome ore and it did not gain general recognition.

Severstrom

In 1830, Swedish chemist Sefstrom N.G. (1787-1845) discovered vanadium while studying iron ore in the Smaland mining district. He dissolved the iron with acid and found vanadium in the residue. Due to the colorful and beautiful compounds of vanadium, it was named after the beautiful goddess Vanadis from Norse mythology. The element was named "Vanadium" in English, and "vanadium" in Chinese. Sefstrom, Wöhler, Berzelius, and others had researched vanadium and confirmed its existence, but they never succeeded in isolating the pure element. Later, in 1830, Friedrich Wöhler discovered it in iron extracted from Swedish iron ore, affirming it as a new element and calling it vanadium. He was able to prove it was a new element, thereby defeating a competing chemist, Friedrich Wöhler from Simapan (Mexico), who was also studying a different vanadium ore.

In 1840, Russian mineral engineer Sobin wrote, "Copper pig iron, black copper, and copper ingots are vanadium alloys, and due to the presence of vanadium, they possess higher hardness."

In 1869, British chemist Roscoe H.E. (1833-1915) was the first to produce pure vanadium metal by reducing vanadium dioxide with hydrogen gas. He also proved that previous metal samples were actually vanadium nitride (VN).

Vanadium was also discovered in copper砂岩 in Perm, Russia in 1939.