Elementymology & Elements Multidict

memory peg	Yellow-white metal which forms a multitude of colors as is slowly oxidizes melting point 1541 °C; 2806 °F boiling point 2831 °C; 5128 °F density 3 g/cc; 186.6 pounds/cubic foot
1876 Lars Fredrick Nilson, Sweden
Scandia = Scandinavia (Latin)

On the basis of his Periodic System Mendeleyev predicted the existence of ekaboron between calcium and titanium. The metal was discovered by the Swedish chemist Lars Fredrick Nilson (1840-1899), a student of Berzelius, in 1876.

In 1879 he split Marignac's ytterbia (see the special Rare Earths page) into two new earth, pure ytterbia and a new element that he found matched Mendeleyev's ekaboron. In 1879/80 he published his findings (note).

Nilson explained the naming of the element thus: "For the element thus characterized I propose the name «scandium», which will bring to mind its presence in gadolinite or euxenite, minerals that have so far been found only in the Scandinavian Peninsula."

• Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, comp. rev. by Henry M. Leicester (Easton, Pa.: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968), pp.649-655 & 667-699.
• Seltene Erden. Gmelins Handbuch der anorganische Chemie, 8. Aufl.; System-Nummer 39 (1938).
• Lauri Niinistö, "Discovery and Separation of Rare Earths". In Rare Earths, ed. Regino Sáez Puche & Paul A. Caro, 25-42. Madrid: Editorial Complutense, 1997.