Claude Piguet reflects on the history of erbium, which is very much intertwined with its rare earth cousins yttrium, ytterbium and terbium. The discovery of erbium did not come in a single 'eureka' ...

Rose Ahlefeldt receives funding from the Australian Research Council. If you were to try reciting the periodic table, you might stumble before you got to the rare earth elements. Comprising yttrium ...