History of Iodine
Centuries ago lived a French chemist named Bernard Courtois (also sometimes spelled Barnard Courtois) who was born and raised in Dijon, France on February 12, 1777. In the year of 1811, he discovered the element Iodine while making an attempt to produce saltpeter using ashes from seaweed instead of using wood to create potassium nitrate. Courtois then added sulfric acid to the ashes and when purple vapor started to form, Iodine was discovered for the first time.