The city of Atlanta, Georgia, in Fulton County, was an important rail and commercial center during the American Civil War. Although relatively small in population, the city became a critical point of contention during the Atlanta Campaign in 1864 when a powerful Union army approached from Union-held Tennessee.
Rare-earth compounds containing lanthanum are extensively used in carbon lighting applications, especially by the motion picture industry for studio lighting and projection.
Lanthanum is actually three times more abundant in the earth's crust than lead! Rare earth metals are very hard to isolate, though. Lanthanum has an atomic number of 57, which means it has 57 protons in its nucleus. It's also the 57th element on the periodic table. The chemical symbol for lanthanum is La.