This element has been sponsored in honot of Laurence G. Stevens and the Indium Corporation, by Laurence Stevens, Michigan Technological University. 20 o C Indium was discovered by Reich and Richter, who later isolated the metal form, also. Even though indium is as abundant as silver, until 1924 one gram constituted the world's supply of pure indium.
Indium is a very soft, silvery-white metal with a brilliant luster.
It has found application in making low-melting alloys, and in making bearing alloys, germanium transistors rectifiers, thermoresistors, and photoconductors. It can also be plated onto metal and evaporated onto glass, forming a mirror as good as that made with silver, but with more resistance to atmospheric corrosion.