 Samarium was discovered in 1879 by the French chemist Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran and named after the mineral samarskite from which it was isolated . The mineral itself was earlier named after a Russian mine official , Colonel Vasili Samarsky @-@ Bykhovets , who thereby became the first person to have a chemical element named after him , albeit indirectly . Although classified as a rare earth element , samarium is the 40th most abundant element in the Earth 's crust and is more common than such metals as tin . Samarium occurs with concentration up to 2 @.@ 8 % in several minerals including cerite , gadolinite , samarskite , monazite and bastnäsite , the last two being the most common commercial sources of the element . These minerals are mostly found in China , the United States , Brazil , India , Sri Lanka and Australia ; China is by far the world leader in samarium mining and production . 
