Abstract In 1781, the Swedish chemist Scheele discovered tungstic acid in scheelite, which he predicted must contain a new metallic element and named Tungsten. Then in 1783, the de Elhuyar brothers successfully extracted what Scheele said from the wolframite, and named it Wolfram. In 1803, the English chemist Dalton’s atomic theory was introduced, giving a new meaning to the element tungsten: a tungsten atom with a certain mass. After 1930, the discovery of tungsten isotopes led to a new understanding of tungsten element and gradually formed the modern concept of tungsten element. The understanding of tungsten element has gone through a developmental process from hypothesis to objective existence, from qualitative to quantitative, and from macroscopic to microscopic. The evolution of the concept of tungsten element reflects the progress of scientific thought and scientific method.
