Osmium, a group 8 d-block transition metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist Smithson Tennant, is the rarest of the stable elements. Concentrations in the Earth’s crust are around 50 parts per trillion. The metal is found in nature uncombinrd or alloyed with its neighbour, iridium, in the alloys iridosmine or osmiridium. Around 500Kg

In December 2017 the United Nations proclaimed that 2019 will be international year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements.[1] This coincides with the 150th anniversary of the periodic system discovered by Dmitry Mendeleev in 1869. We at Scientific Update love a good celebration so over the coming months, and in honour of this