Palladium is a silvery-white metal, discovered by William Hyde Wollaston, the English chemist and physicist, in 1803. He named it after the Greek goddess Pallas, the daughter of Triton (god of the sea). Palladium is part of the platinum group metals, which includes, of course, platinum and iridium, both also used in jewellery. The metal was first used in jewellery in 1939, as an alternative to platinum, which was highly restricted after it was declared a strategic government resource during World War II due to its use in the war effort.
