In 1668, a Flemish metallurgist, P. Moras de Respour, reported the extraction of metallic zinc from zinc oxide, but as far as Europe was concerned zinc was discovered by the German chemist Andreas Marggraf in 1746, and indeed he was the first to recognise it as a new metal.

How was zinc created?

Metallic zinc was first produced in India sometime in the 1400s by heating the mineral calamine (ZnCO3) with wool. Zinc was rediscovered by Andreas Sigismund Marggraf in 1746 by heating calamine with charcoal. Today, most zinc is produced through the electrolysis of aqueous zinc sulfate (ZnSO4).

Did the Romans use zinc?

The Romans as early as 200 bce produced considerable quantities of brass, an alloy of zinc and copper, by heating in crucibles a mixture of zinc oxide and charcoal covered with lumps of metallic copper. … Brass production was the Romans’ only use of zinc.