铌发现于1801年。钽发现于1802年。直到1903年,才第一次制得了纯钽,而纯铌则更迟些。美国1922年开始工业规模生产金属钽;1955年,开始工业规模生产金属铌。虽然钽工业生产已有几十年的历史,但铌钽工业迅速发展是在近二十年内,日本和其他资本主义国家都是从五十年代末期开始发展铌钽工业的。 Niobium was discovered in 1801. Tantalum was found in 1802. Pure tantalum was not produced until 1903, while pure niobium was later. The United States began industrial scale production of tantalum metal in 1922; in 1955, it began industrial scale production of metallic niobium. Although the tantalum industry has been in production for decades, the rapid development of the niobium-tantalum industry was in the near two decades that Japan and other capitalist countries started to develop the niobium-tantalum industry from the late 1950s.