1907

Lutetium

• In 1907, Georges Urbain separated
• the mineral ytterbia into two oxides—
• neoytterbia and lutecia.
• In 1907, Carl Auer von Welsbach separated
• the mineral ytterbia into two oxides—
• aldebarania and cassiopeia.
• In 1907, Charles James separated
• the mineral ytterbia into two oxides—
• but he withdrew his publication.
• Urbain was the first to publish
• so the sixteenth rare earth
• was given the Roman name for Paris.

Atomic number 71

• Catalyst,
• dopant,
• phosphor.
• Lutetium
• tantalate
• is the
• densest,
• stable white
• material.
• What do
• you say
• about that?

Synchronicity

• One way to tell the time was right is by
• the number of simultaneous discoveries.
• As though all at once a hundred ships
• sailed west from different eastern ports,
• none aware of the others but each
• gambling on the unexpected,
• one would suspect a hidden connection,
• even if only three made it to a distant shore.