When was the element helium first discovered on Earth?

Helium was first discovered on Earth by the chemist William Ramsay in 1895. He isolated it while studying the mineral cleveite, and the same year the Swedish chemist Per Teodor Cleve also recognized the element independently. Helium had already been detected in the Sun’s spectrum in 1868, which is why its name comes from Helios, the Greek word for the Sun. It became the first element to be discovered in space before it was found on Earth.