Elementymology & Elements Multidict

memory peg	Gray-white metal melting point 819 °C; 1506 °F boiling point 1194 °C; 2181 °F density 6.97 g/cc; 434.9 pounds/cubic foot
1878 Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac, France
Ytterby, village in Sweden (just as Erbium, Terbium, and Yttrium!)

The story of discovery and naming of the rare earth element Ytterbium began with Carl Gustav Mosander splitting old yttria into three new elements, yttria proper, erbia, and terbia (for information and illustrations of Ytterby's quarry and a location map see the Rare Earths page). In 1860 the Swedish chemist Nils Johan Berlin (1812-1891) denied the existence of Mosander’s erbia, and gave this name to his terbia. Also Berlin's erbia itself proved to be a mixture.

On 22 October 1878, Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac reports that he has split terbia in two new earths, terbia proper and ytterbia, which Ytterbium. He named it (again) after Ytterby, a village in Sweden near Stockholm (note). Like Mosander, it seems lack of phantasy. It is the fourth element named after this village, we already had Yttrium, Erbium, and Terbium. And, ytterbia was the original name Gadolin gave to yttria.

Marignac's ytterbia was split by Nilson in 1879 into scandia (see Scandium) and a new ytterbia.

Finally, Nilson's ytterbia was separated by Georges Urbain (1872-1938) in 1907 into neo-ytterbia and lutecia, with the elements Neo-ytterbium and Lutecium (note).

Auer von Welsbach proposed for these elements the names Aldebaranium and Cassiopeium. In the report of the International Commission on Atomic Weights of 1906 it was mentioned that Urbain and Auer had independently proved that the old Ytterbium was a mixture of two elements, for one of which Urbain had suggested, and the Commission approved, the name Lutecium. To avoid confusion, the optional name, Neoytterbium, for the other element was recommended. A symbol appears not to have been proposed. The optional name Neoytterbium was not abandoned until 1925, since then it is Ytterbium.

Peter van der Krogt in Ytterby, Summer 2009.

Click here for more photos

A Chronological list of discovery of the rare earths and their names and information and illustrations of Ytterby's quarry and a location map is on the Rare Earths page.

John and Gordon Marks suggested in 1994 the name Spectrium (Sp) after the spectroscope which identified many lanthanide elements. The Marks brothers found the old names ugly and confusing. They offered alternative names that are equivalent contemporary (at the time and place of discovery) metaphors, both more euphonious and more memorable (note).

• Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, comp. rev. by Henry M. Leicester (Easton, Pa.: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968), pp. 667-699.
• Seltene Erden. Gmelins Handbuch der anorganische Chemie, 8. Aufl.; System-Nummer 39 (1938).
• Vaxholm, a town of islands
• J. Gadolin, "Undersökning af en svart tung Stenart ifrån Ytterby Stenbrott i Roslagen." (Examination of a black, dense mineral from the Ytterby Quarry in Roslagen). K. Vetenskaps-akad. nya handl. vol. 15, 1794, pp. 137-155.