The chemist Per Theodor Cleve named holmium after the Swedish city of Stockholm. Pure holmium can produce a strong magnetic field and is therefore used in magnets. Its compounds are used to make lasers and to color glass and artificial jewelry.
Summary of properties (Ho)
| Atomic weight | 164.930328(7) |
| Discoverer (year) | Delafontaine, Marc & Soret, Louis (1867) |
| Natural form | metallic solid (hexagonal) |
| Electron configuration | [Xe] 4f 11 6s2 |
| Melting point (ºC) | 1470 |
| Boiling point (ºC) | 2720 |
| Abundance in earth's crust (ppm) | 1.3 |
| Isotope (abundance) | 165Ho (100) |
| Density g/cm3 | 8.8 |
| Van der Waals radius (pm) | 230 |
| Covalent radius (pm) | 179 |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | 1.23 |
| Vaporization enthalpy (kJ/mol) | 251.00 |
| Enthalpy of fusion (kJ/mol) | 17.00 |
| Specific heat capacity (J/g·K) at 25ºC and 1 atm | 0.17 |
| Thermal conductivity (W/cm·K) at 25ºC and 1 atm | 0.160 |
| Oxidation state | +3 |
| Electron affinity (eV) | |
| 1st Ionization potential (eV) | 6.0215 |
