Cerium (atomic symbol Ce) is element 58 on the periodic table. It is a Lathanide metal discovered in 1803 by Jons Jakob Berzelius and Wihelm Hisinger, and independently by Martin Heinrich Klaproth in the same year. It is named after Ceres, a dwarf planet that was recently disovered at the time (which itself was named after the Roman goddess of agriculture). This element makes up 0.0046% of the Earth's crust by weight, mostly in minerals such as allanite, monazite, and bastnasite. Cerium is of low to moderate toxicity, like all rare-earth metals, and has no significant biological role. The metal can be found in the flints of lighters, and is used widely as various oxides.
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