Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
The story of samarium (in song). Every element on the periodic table that's named after a real person takes its name from a famed historical figure...except one. This is the story of that one: Vassiliy Yevgrafovich Samarsky-Byhovets, who was (give or take) just some guy.
Complete lyrics are available as subtitles.
Download the song (includes instrumental version):
oliverlugg.bandcamp.com/album/samarsky-was-just-some-guy
Or listen on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/album/3n5m0rHGW1POsamYTAiZZ4
Join my Discord server to discuss this video and more:
discord.gg/AVcU9w5gVW
I know I said I'd have this video done much earlier in my last video, so apologies for that. I ended up neglecting YouTube through a few months that were difficult for various reasons. But I'm back, so that's nice.
I went through a Gilbert and Sullivan phase when I started work on this, so blame that for what it has become.
-----------------
SOURCES
The inspiration for this video was the chapter 'Gadolin and Samarsky, Everymen of the Elements' from Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams. That and most other sources ultimately trace back to 'Composition of Uranotantalum and Columbite From the Ilmen Mountains', a Russian translation of a German journal article where samarskite was named. I couldn't find the German original.
62. Samarium: Eponymous Honorarium
T. R. Appleton, 2020
episodictable.com/samarium
Chemistry in Its Element - Samarium
Richard Corfield, 2011
web.archive.org/web/20110408195843/http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/Interactive_Periodic_Table_Transcripts/Samarium.asp
Composition of Uranotantalum and Columbite From the Ilmen Mountains
Heinrich Rose (translated by Iane Beck), 1847, pp104-121
archive.org/details/Mining_Jour_Russian_part_2_1847/page/104/mode/2up
“Historical note on the composition of the mining administration” in 1806-1861. and the reform of mining legislation in the early 60s. XIX century
Evgeniy Stanislavovich Tulisov and E.Yu. Rukosuev, 2001
web.archive.org/web/20070927200546/http://www.ekburg.ru/tulisov/komis.htm
Introduction to the lanthanide elements
Daniel Price, 2018
youtube.com/watch?v=uue-cwmdA2w
Periodic Tales
Hugh Aldersey-Williams, 2011, pp373-378
Russian biographical dictionary. Volume XVIII. Sabaneev – Smyslov
Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsov, 1904, p147
https://runivers.ru/upload/iblock/4b6/18.pdf
Salute to samarium
Stanislav Strekopytov, 2016
nature.com/articles/nchem.2565
Samarium: History & Etymology
Peter van der Krogt
elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Sm
Shark attacks: A magnetic solution?
Ari Daniel Shapiro, 2012
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17792624
St. Petersburg Necropolis
1913, p28
https://vivaldi.nlr.ru/bx000050149/view/#page=28
The story of samarium (in song). Every element on the periodic table that's named after a real person takes its name from a famed historical figure...except one. This is the story of that one: Vassiliy Yevgrafovich Samarsky-Byhovets, who was (give or take) just some guy.
Complete lyrics are available as subtitles.
Download the song (includes instrumental version):
oliverlugg.bandcamp.com/album/samarsky-was-just-some-guy
Or listen on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/album/3n5m0rHGW1POsamYTAiZZ4
Join my Discord server to discuss this video and more:
discord.gg/AVcU9w5gVW
I know I said I'd have this video done much earlier in my last video, so apologies for that. I ended up neglecting YouTube through a few months that were difficult for various reasons. But I'm back, so that's nice.
I went through a Gilbert and Sullivan phase when I started work on this, so blame that for what it has become.
-----------------
SOURCES
The inspiration for this video was the chapter 'Gadolin and Samarsky, Everymen of the Elements' from Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams. That and most other sources ultimately trace back to 'Composition of Uranotantalum and Columbite From the Ilmen Mountains', a Russian translation of a German journal article where samarskite was named. I couldn't find the German original.
62. Samarium: Eponymous Honorarium
T. R. Appleton, 2020
episodictable.com/samarium
Chemistry in Its Element - Samarium
Richard Corfield, 2011
web.archive.org/web/20110408195843/http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/Interactive_Periodic_Table_Transcripts/Samarium.asp
Composition of Uranotantalum and Columbite From the Ilmen Mountains
Heinrich Rose (translated by Iane Beck), 1847, pp104-121
archive.org/details/Mining_Jour_Russian_part_2_1847/page/104/mode/2up
“Historical note on the composition of the mining administration” in 1806-1861. and the reform of mining legislation in the early 60s. XIX century
Evgeniy Stanislavovich Tulisov and E.Yu. Rukosuev, 2001
web.archive.org/web/20070927200546/http://www.ekburg.ru/tulisov/komis.htm
Introduction to the lanthanide elements
Daniel Price, 2018
youtube.com/watch?v=uue-cwmdA2w
Periodic Tales
Hugh Aldersey-Williams, 2011, pp373-378
Russian biographical dictionary. Volume XVIII. Sabaneev – Smyslov
Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsov, 1904, p147
https://runivers.ru/upload/iblock/4b6/18.pdf
Salute to samarium
Stanislav Strekopytov, 2016
nature.com/articles/nchem.2565
Samarium: History & Etymology
Peter van der Krogt
elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Sm
Shark attacks: A magnetic solution?
Ari Daniel Shapiro, 2012
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17792624
St. Petersburg Necropolis
1913, p28
https://vivaldi.nlr.ru/bx000050149/view/#page=28
