Magnet
A permanent magnet is an object made from a material that is magnetized and creates its own persistent magnetic field. An everyday example is a refrigerator magnet used to hold notes on a refrigerator door. Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include the elements iron, nickel and cobalt, some alloys of rare-earth metals, and some naturally occurring minerals such as lodestone. Although ferromagnetic (and ferrimagnetic) materials are the only ones attracted to a magnet strongly enough to be commonly considered magnetic, all other substances respond weakly to a magnetic field, by one of several other types of magnetism.
Rare-earth magnet
The development of rare-earth magnets began around 1966, when K. J. Strnat and G. Hoffer of the US Air Force Materials Laboratory discovered that an alloy of yttrium and cobalt, YCo, had by far the largest magnetic anisotropy constant of any material then known. The term "rare earth" can be misleading, as these metals are not particularly rare or precious; they are about as abundant as tin or lead. However rare earth ores are unevenly distributed, with the major source being China, which has led countries to classify rare earth metals as strategically important. Recent Chinese export restrictions on these materials have led other countries to initiate research programs to develop strong magnets that do not require them.