Word: yttrium
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...team tried lanthanum, the rare-earth* component of the IBM compound. Maw-Kuen Wu, head of the team's Alabama unit and a former graduate student of Chu's, replaced the lanthanum with another rare-earth element, yttrium...
FOOTNOTE:*The so-called rare earths, a group of 17 chemical elements, are not rare at all; yttrium, for example, is thought to be more abundant than lead. These elements were mislabeled because they were first found in truly rare minerals...
...specialists in San Francisco were also intrigued by a new surgical laser called the YAG (for its components of yttrium, aluminum and garnet). Unlike the argon laser, which has been used by eye surgeons for nearly two decades, the YAG does not produce its effect by burning. Instead, it concentrates light energy into very short, intense pulses that create tiny, 1/10-mm cuts. "It causes a very small explosion," explains French Surgeon Daniele Aron-Rosa, who, along with Swiss Surgeon Franz Fankhauser, is credited with inventing YAG surgery...