Spectral lines and elements

Since their discovery by Fraunhofer nearly half a century before, spectral lines had not been connected with chemistry. The discovery that each element produces characteristic spectral lines when heated extended knowledge about chemical elements and their behaviors. This finding allowed for the identification of elements through their unique spectral fingerprints.
 Gustav Robert Kirchhoff Germany 1859 Spectral lines and elements

Since their discovery by Fraunhofer nearly half a century before, spectral lines had not been connected with chemistry. The discovery that each element produces characteristic spectral lines when heated extended knowledge about chemical elements and their behaviors. This finding allowed for the identification of elements through their unique spectral fingerprints.