Short answers, pulled from the story.
Karl Ernst Claus, a Russian scientist of Baltic-German ancestry, discovered ruthenium in 1844 while working at Kazan State University. He isolated it from platinum residues left over from minting ruble coins and obtained 6 grams of the pure metal.
Claus named ruthenium in honor of Russia, using the Latin name Ruthenia. He stated he had the right to use the name because Gottfried Osann, who had previously proposed it, had withdrawn his own discovery claim.
Electronics is the largest use, accounting for the majority of the roughly 30.9 tonnes consumed in 2016. Thick-film chip resistors and wear-resistant electrical contacts together represent about 50 percent of ruthenium consumption. Catalysis, electrochemistry, and a newer role as a capping layer in semiconductor lithography are also significant applications.
Ruthenium occurs at about 100 parts per trillion in the Earth's crust, ranking it 78th in abundance. It is primarily found in platinum group metal ores in the Ural Mountains, North and South America, pyroxenite deposits in South Africa, and pentlandite from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
The beta-decaying isotope 106Ru, which has a half-life of 371.8 days, is used in radiotherapy to treat eye tumors, mainly melanomas of the uvea. It is also a fission product of uranium and plutonium.
Ryoji Noyori received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 for his work in asymmetric hydrogenation. Chiral ruthenium complexes he introduced are used commercially for the enantioselective hydrogenation of ketones, aldehydes, and imines.