Rhenium was an unknown element when the periodic table was first produced about 1870. The properties predicted for an element of atomic number 75 turned out to be in general agreement with those of Rhenium when it was discovered in 1925.

By searching the ores of the elements close to Rhenium in the periodic system figure 101, W. Norddacrk, and O. Berg were the first to locate it, in platinum ores such as columbite and tungstite, J.G.F. Druce discovered it independently in crude manganese sulphate.

The presence of Rhenium was determined originally by lines in the X-ray spectrum in the calculated position for atomic number 75. The ores from which Rhenium was first extracted commercially came from the region of the River Rhine (Latin, Rhenus), hence the name of RHENIUM (symbol: Re).