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europium (Eu)


Term: europium (Eu)
Literally meaning: “pertaining to Europe, wide-gazing
Origin
ευρύς/evrys(= broad)
+ ωψ/ops(=face)
The element called “europium” after the continent Europe.  According Greek mythology the continent took its name  from a Phoenician princess whom one day, while she was gathering  flowers, was abducted by Zeus (father of gods) after assuming the form of a white bull. According Homer (8th cen BCE) Europa was a great queen of Crete (Eυρώπη) giving birth to Minos, who would become king of Crete.  Eventually, the term Europa was used to describe part of northern Greece and later (by 500BC) other lands further north of Greece.
Coined/History 
Europium was first found by French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1838-1912) in 1800 but is credited to French chemist Eugene—Anatole Demarcay(1852-1904) who managed to identified it while studied spectroscopic lines of samarium.   He obt6ained it in 1901 using repeated crystallization of samarium magnesium nitrate.
Definition
Europium is a rare-earth silvery-white and soft chemical element with atomic number 63 and atomic mass 151.964. It is used in television colors as europia oxide.

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