Discovery of neodymium

Neodymium was discovered in 1885 by the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach in Vienna. Chemists had long believed that didymium, discovered by Carl Gustaf Mosander in 1841, was a single element, but Welsbach, after repeated fractional crystallisation of its salts, split it into two new elements, which he named neodymium and praseodymium. Neodymium means new twin, from the Greek neos and didymos. The pure metal is a silvery rare earth that tarnishes quickly in air. In 1982, neodymium-iron-boron magnets were developed, and they are the strongest permanent magnets in common use. They are essential in wind-turbine generators, electric-vehicle motors, hard disks and headphones, and neodymium is also used in solid-state lasers.

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