Beryl, a mineral that contains beryllium, has been known since the time of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt.Template:Sfn Although it was originally thought that beryl was an aluminium silicate,Template:Sfn beryl was later found to contain a then-unknown element when, in 1797, Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin dissolved aluminium hydroxide from beryl in an alkali. In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler and Antoine Bussy independently isolated this new element, beryllium, by the same method, which involved a reaction of beryllium chloride with metallic potassium; this reaction was not able to produce large ingots of beryllium.Template:Sfn It was not until 1898, when Paul Lebeau performed an electrolysis of a mixture of beryllium fluoride and sodium fluoride, that large pure samples of beryllium were produced.Template:Sfn