The usual view is that elements are discovered by persons who are nationals of a given country. Going a step further, in his ranking of countries by number of Nobel Prize winners, Asimov (2) uses the criterion that in case of doubt "the key point is a man's scientific birth and that this takes place in college". So, he assigns Albert Einstein to Switzerland, because that is the country where he received his undergraduate training.

There is no doubt in the present case: three elements were discovered by Spanish nationals born and educated in Spain. The brothers Fausto and Juan José de Elhúyar, working in Spain, discovered tungsten or wolfram in 1783. Antonio de Ulloa, an officer in the Spanish Navy, discovered platinum during a scientific expedition in what is now Colombia, and then part of the Virreinato de Nueva Granada, in 1753. And Manuel del Río, a Spanish scientist appointed as professor in the School of Mines in Mexico, then part of the Virreinato de Nueva España, discovered vanadium in 1801. Due credit is given to these Spanish scientists for the discovery of the said elements in the section "The Elements" of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (3).

Literature Cited

1. Thomsen, V. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 937.
2. Asimov, I. Asimov on Chemistry; Macdonald and Jane's: London, 1975; p 216.
3. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 1995­1996, 76th ed.; Lide, D. R., Ed.; CRC: Boca Raton, FL, 1995.