 Discovery Information
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| Who: Paul emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran |
| When: 1879 |
| Where: France |
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| Name Origin
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| From the mineral samarskite, named after a Russian mine official, Colonel Samarski. |
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| Sources
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| Never found free in nature. Samarium is found in many minerals, including bastnasite, monazite and samarskite. |
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| Uses
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| Used in carbon-arc lighting, permanent magnets, lasers, alloys, headphones and as an absorber in nuclear reactors.
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| Samarium oxide is used in optical glass to absorb infrared. |
| Samarium-Cobalt magnets; SmCo5 is used in making a new permanent magnet material with the highest resistance to demagnetization of any known material.
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