Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name molybdenum comes from the Ancient Greek word meaning lead. For centuries, miners confused molybdenite with graphite and galena before Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele stated firmly in 1778 that molybdena was neither galena nor graphite.
Peter Jacob Hjelm successfully isolated a metal he called molybdenum using carbon and linseed oil in 1781. The pure metal appeared as a silvery-grey substance with a Mohs hardness of 5.5.
China led global output with 94,000 tonnes followed by the United States at 64,000 tonnes while Chile produced 38,000 tonnes. Total reserves are estimated at 10 million tonnes concentrated primarily in China the US and Chile.
At least fifty molybdenum-containing enzymes have been identified mostly in bacteria including aldehyde oxidase sulfite oxidase and xanthine oxidase. Molybdenum is an essential element in most organisms where it regulates nitrogen sulfur and carbon processes within living systems.
The radioactive isotope molybdenum-99 generates technetium-99m for medical imaging applications used in various diagnostic procedures. Molybdenum targets produce X-rays in the energy range of seventeen to twenty keV which proves optimal for imaging soft tissues like breast tissue during mammography.