Samarium is element 62, a lanthanoid of the f block, in period 6. Its ground-state configuration is [Xe] 4f6 6s2, and it usually shows the oxidation states 0, 2, 3.
It was discovered in 1879, by Lecoq de Boisbaudran.
Name origin: Samarskite, the name of the mineral from which it was first isolated.
The periodic table, read every way a chemistry course asks for. This tool needs JavaScript; these are the pages it offers: