Antal Ruprecht (1748–1818) was a Hungarian Chemist.
He graduated from the Mining Academy of Selmecbánya where he later became a professor of chemistry and metallurgy in 1779.
He was the first to melt platinum and contributed to the discovery of tellurium in 1784.
[1][2] Ruprecht was the first to theorise that alkaline earth metals were compounds rather than elements; later proved by Humphry Davy.
[3] This theory caused some controversy in the chemistry community due to the previous assumption of earths being fundamental substances.