Group 12 element people in the 17th century. German chemist Andreas Marggraf is usually given credit for discovering pure metallic zinc in a 1746 experiment by heating a mixture of calamine and charcoal in a closed vessel without copper to obtain a metal. Experiments on frogs by the Italian doctor Luigi Galvani in 1780 with brass paved the way for the discovery of electrical batteries, galvanization and cathodic protection. In 1880, Galvani's friend, Alessandro Volta, invented the Voltaic pile. The biological importance of zinc was not discovered until 1940 when carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme that scrubs carbon dioxide from blood, was shown to
Ore Mountains Duke George the Bearded, it has been held annually since. Also interesting is Ore Mountain cuisine, which is simple, but rich in tradition. Since 1998 the Ore Mountains have striven to achieve UNESCO World Heritage status as the Ore Mountain Mining Region ("Montanregion Erzgebirge"). Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains or Ore Mountain Range () ( ; ; both literally "ore mountains") in Central Europe have formed a natural border between Saxony and Bohemia for around 800 years, from the 12th to the 20th centuries. Today, the border between Germany and the Czech Republic runs just north of the main crest