text: In 1840, Claus, received a substantial amount of platinum ore samples for his studies from the Ural Mountains and the St Petersburg Mint and started working on chemistry and isolation of noble metals, in particular rhodium, iridium, osmium, and to a lesser extent, palladium and platinum. In 1844, he discovered a new chemical element, which he named ruthenium, after Ruthenia, the latinised name for Russia and the Latin name of Rus', by which Сlaus meant the Russian Empire and Russia in particular. Choosing the name for the new element, he stated: "I named the new body, in honour of my Motherland, ruthenium. I had every right to call it by this name because Mr. Osann relinquished his ruthenium and the word does not yet exist in chemistry."
  Claus managed not only to isolate ruthenium, but also determine its atomic weight and chemical properties. He noted the similarity of the chemical properties of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium and platinum and meticulously documented his results. For this discovery, he was awarded the Demidov Prize of 5,000 rubles (which was of much financial help to his large family). He sent samples of new element for analysis to Jöns Jakob Berzelius, who was one of the most renowned scientists in the field of new elements, and thereby became known to European scientists.