Berlin, Germany/berlin056
Previous | Home | Next"Gadolinite. Y2FeBe2[O/Si4]2. Ytterby, near Stockholm, Sweden." Gadolin in Åbo (presently Turku), Finland, analyzed a sample of gadolinite from the Ytterby mine and discovered the new element yttrium. Since this work was done before the discovery of beryllium, the beryllium was misidentified as aluminum. Later work by Ekeberg of Uppsala, Sweden, and finally by Klaproth established the composition of gadolinite as an yttrium iron beryllium silicate. Klaproth gave the name "gadolinite" to the mineral. Gadolinite proved to hold not only the mineral yttrium, but many of the heavier rare earths (Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu). These heavier rare earths are the smaller rare earths (smaller atomic radius). The reason for this phenomenon is because of the gradual reduction in atomic radium as one proceeds across the lanthanide row of the Periodic Table.
