| Antal Ruprecht | |
| Native Name: | Anton Leopold von Rupprecht |
| Birth Date: | 1748 |
| Birth Place: | Szomolnok, Hungary (today Smolník, Slovakia) |
| Death Date: | 1818 |
| Death Place: | Vienna, Austria |
| Citizenship: | Hungarian |
| Workplaces: | Mining Academy of Selmecbánya/Schemnitz |
| Alma Mater: | Mining Academy of Selmecbánya/Schemnitz |
Antal Ruprecht (1748–1818) was a Hungarian Chemist.
He was born in Szomolnok, Hungary in 1748. He graduated from the Mining Academy of Selmecbánya where he later became a professor of chemistry and metallurgy in 1779. He was the first to melt platinum and contributed to the discovery of tellurium in 1784.[1] [2] Ruprecht was the first to theorise that alkaline earth metals were compounds rather than elements; later proved by Humphry Davy.[3] This theory caused some controversy in the chemistry community due to the previous assumption of earths being fundamental substances.[4]