William Thomson (mineralogist)

One day he decided to treat a sample of the Krasnojarsk meteorite with nitric acid for the purpose of cleaning it of rust.

Shortly after the contact with acid he noticed on the surface of the metal a strange never seen before[citation needed] figures: it was the later-called Widmanstätten pattern.

[3][1][4]: 125 [5] After his death, his work was published in 1808 in Italian (translated from the original English manuscript) on Atti dell'Accademia Delle Scienze di Siena.

[citation needed] The discovery of Widmanstätten was independent, but he did not publish his findings after he noticed color and luster zone differentiation as the various iron alloys oxidized at different rates.

The discovery was acknowledged by Carl von Schreibers, director of the Vienna Mineral and Zoology Cabinet, who named the structure after Widmanstätten.