A catalyst is a substance used to speed up or slow down a chemical reaction without undergoing any change itself. For example, the catalytic converter in an automobile's exhaust system may contain a platinum metal.
The first known reference to platinum can be found in the writings of Italian physician, scholar, and poet Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558). Scaliger apparently saw platinum while visiting Central America in 1557. He referred to a hard metal that the natives had learned to work with, but the Spanish had not. The metal had been called platina ("little silver") by the natives. The name was given to the material because it got in the way of mining silver and gold. Since the natives knew of no use for the platina, they thought of it as a nuisance.
The first complete description of platinum was given by the Spanish military leader Don Antonio de Ulloa (1716-95). While serving in South America from 1735 to 1746, de Ulloa collected samples of platinum. He later wrote a report about the metal, describing how it was mined and used. De Ulloa is often given credit for discovering platinum on the basis of the report he wrote.
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