Discovered 13 years ago, and officially added to the periodic table just weeks ago, element 112 finally has a name. It will be called “copernicium”, with the symbol Cp, in honour of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
Copernicus deduced that the planets revolved around the Sun, and finally refuted the belief that the Earth was the centre of the Universe. The team of scientists who discovered the element chose the name to honour the man who “changed our world view”.
Scientists from the Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, led by Professor Sigurd Hofmann, discovered copernicium in fusion experiments in 1996.
“After IUPAC officially recognised our discovery, we agreed on proposing the name (because) we would like to honour an outstanding scientist,” said Professor Hofmann.
Copernicus was born 1473 in Torun, Poland. His finding that the planets circle the sun underpins much of modern science. It was pivotal for the discovery of gravity, and led to the conclusion that the stars are incredibly far away and that the Universe is inconceivably large.
Under IUPAC rules, the team were not allowed to name the element after a living person. But when asked if, rules aside, he would have liked to have “hofmanium” added to the periodic table, Professor Hofmann told BBC News: “No, I think copernicium sounds much better.”
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i feel sorry 4 all gcse students an addition to research.
From the picture, I thought the story was about Tetris. This is probably why I’m not scientist
Just wondering how many people would have thought hofmanium would have been named after certain member of the Baywatch cast
Or about a game of Pong with an inconceivably large paddle.
Weird, I remember having read this name already way more often … Maybe it’s not really new, but officially given now, or it was a name that looks a lot like it. Google gave way too many results about this new element that finally has been given its name so did not search too long (and it is way too slow here, my web ‘m walk connection).
The impact of this finding is not clear to me, which, not being into science, makes sense.
sarahj…. i did chemistry a level… (some years ago now…) but i also thought it looked a bit tetrisy when i first saw the pic!
hope that makes u feel a bit better…. loved chem though! so this is a really cool thing!!!!! lol
This will deffenently piss off my Chemistry teacher
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Thanks!
Mikk