Platinum Folly: Discarding the World's Most Valuable Metal

When Spanish conquistadors first encountered a strange, unyielding white metal in the rivers of South America, they considered it an infuriating impurity. They named it "e;platina"e;-little silver-and ordered it thrown back into the water so it could "e;ripen"e; into gold. Behind this historical footnote lies a fascinating tale of ignorance, counterfeiting, and eventual redemption. Because plati...