A metal named after a greek princess,
its finding was a difficult process.
Two british man, one declared, and one denied,
a german chemist clarified.

Tantalum ores contained niobium,
which was initially called columbium.
Even tough in the US, the latter one still used,
the father daughter name amused.

So officially niobium the metal named,
a nice idea, noone to be blamed.
It is one of four refactory elements,
the least dense, a girls name, hence.

Cliché, but not unfitting for a princess,
niobium shows a colorfull dress,
grey if pure, but with electricity you can
with a tiny bit of oxygen,

paint it in rainbow, shiny glamour,
in an aristocratic manner,
as with that it is amazingly beatuiful,
it is used if jewelery needs a metal colorfull,

hypoallergenic is one of its properties,
which means it is not affecting your allergies.
With that you can guess another application,
niobium is part of chirurgical instruments in high variation.

Niobium is found as an alloying element,
and part of the hard material cement.
In cemented carbides or cermet material,
improving the properties overall.

Niobium is crucial for superconductive magnets,
zero resistance at low temperatures sets,
its important for radiology,
and injury therapy.

Refractory materials melt at high temperatures,
which means high heat, it endures,
as the least dense of all of them,
for spaceship nozzles it fits well.

To prohibit the nozzle to melt and deform,
the niobium superalloy was born.
Niobium is as we would expect,
as a princess expensive but correct.

A metal, but a beautiful one,
with an extravagant tone.
Timeless like a greek princess,
helps humanity with technical success.