[2][3] Eight stable rare earth elements were eventually extracted from ytterbite: terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, and yttrium.

As an artillery officer, Arrhenius was assigned to study the characteristics of gunpowder at the Swedish Royal Mint's (Kungliga Myntet) laboratory.

Being taught to test gunpowder by Bengt Reinhold Geijer and Peter Jacob Hjelm at the Royal Mint sparked his interest in chemistry and mineralogy, and this experience served as the beginning of his chemical studies.

In 1816–1817, then more than sixty years of age, Arrhenius attended the classes of chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, continuing his studies of chemistry.

[7][2][12][13] The mineral's first description was published by Bengt Reinhold Geijer in Crell's Annalen in 1788, where he credited Arrhenius with the discovery of a "Schwerstein" or "heavy rock".

[14][7][15][16] Examining a different sample, Anders Gustaf Ekeberg confirmed the existence of a new "earth", calling it "yttria" and the source mineral "ytterbite".

[12][19] Ytterbite was eventually found to contain eight stable rare earth elements (terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, and yttrium).