Discovery of lutetium

Lutetium was discovered around 1906 and 1907, when three scientists working independently found it in samples of ytterbium: Georges Urbain in France, Carl Auer von Welsbach in Austria and Charles James in the United States. Urbain proposed the name lutecium, after Lutetia, the Roman name for Paris, and Welsbach suggested cassiopeium. A dispute over priority lasted for years, with the name lutetium finally adopted in 1949. Lutetium is the last element in the lanthanide series and the hardest and densest of the rare earths. It is rare and difficult to separate, so it has few applications, although it is used in positron emission tomography scanners and in a radioactive form for treating certain cancers.

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