Iodine [SEP] discoverer or inventor
used in nutrition. Due to its high atomic number and ease of attachment to organic compounds, it has also found favour as a non-toxic radiocontrast material. Because of the specificity of its uptake by the human body, radioactive isotopes of iodine can also be used to treat thyroid cancer. Iodine is also used as a catalyst in the industrial production of acetic acid and some polymers.
History.
In 1811, iodine was discovered by French chemist Bernard Courtois, who was born to a manufacturer of saltpetre (an
off. It was in the form of an unusual purple vapor. Humphry Davy later records, 
Later life.
Courtois was acknowledged by Humphry Davy and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac as the true discoverer of iodine. He went into manufacturing high-quality iodine and its salts in 1822. In 1831 he was awarded 6,000 francs as part of the Montyon Prize by "L'Academie royale des sciences" for the medicinal value of this element. He struggled financially for the rest of his life and died September 27, 1838.