Neodymium is discovered by Baron Carl Auer von Welsbach. The discovery occurred after an attempt to separate the components of didymium, which turned out to be neodymium (a new twin) and praseodymium. A century later, neodymium would be the main component of the most powerful rare-earth magnets used in servo motors. The discovery of neodymium (1885) and samarium (1879) represents the discovery of two of the main rare earth elements (which are not that rare after all…) that are today fundamental elements for electric servo motors and for electronics in general (for example, lasers).
