 Europium was first found in 1890 by Paul Émile <unk> de <unk> , who obtained basic fractions from samarium @-@ gadolinium concentrates which had spectral lines not accounted for by samarium or gadolinium . However , the discovery of europium is generally credited to French chemist Eugène @-@ <unk> <unk> , who suspected samples of the recently discovered element samarium were contaminated with an unknown element in 1896 and who was able to isolate it in 1901 ; he then named it europium . 
