Word: cerium
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Telltale U-237. About 27% of the radiation came from U-237, a short-lived uranium isotope (half-life: 6.75 days) which does not exist in nature. Nearly all the rest came from elements with middle weight atoms, such as tellurium, zirconium and cerium. The content of the sample was roughly the same as that of dust that came from the great U.S. bomb exploded at Bikini on March...
...commercial metals are so scarce as a group of 15 known as the "rare earths." They are so rare, in fact, that there is some question as to whether one of them exists at all. They have tongue-twisting names (praseodymium, gadolinium, cerium, lanthanum, ytterbium, etc.), are found in rare mineral deposits, mostly in India and Brazil. Until recently, the metals had limited uses...
...atom age, these rare-earth metals have suddenly come into new importance, have sent companies scrambling for new sources. Cerium, for example, combines with magnesium and aluminum to make tough, light, heat-resistant alloys ideal for jet-engine parts. The Atomic Energy Commission is interested in cerium's cousins because they are useful in shields against atomic radiation, have other secret uses...
Lately the struggle toward Absolute Zero has been led by Holland's University of Leyden and the University of California, both of which have tremendous magnets. For the final push they used highly magnetic salts-gadolinium sulphate octahydrate in California, cerium fluoride in Leyden. In 1933 Leyden was within .27° C. of Absolute Zero. Then California got it down to .16°. Then Leyden reached...