In the final article from the series "The origin of the names of chemical elements" we will consider the elements that received their names in honor of scientists and researchers.
Gadolinium
In 1794, the Finnish chemist and mineralogist Johan Gadolin discovered an oxide of an unknown metal in a mineral found near Ytterby. In 1879, Lecoq de Boisbaudran named this oxide gadolinium earth (Gadolinia), and when the metal was isolated from it in 1896, it was named gadolinium. This was the first time that a chemical element was named after a scientist.
Samarium
In the mid-40s of the 19th century, mining engineer V.E. Samarsky-Bykhovets provided the German chemist Heinrich Rose for research with samples of the black Ural mineral found in the Ilmen mountains. Shortly before this, the mineral was investigated by Henry's brother, Gustav, and named the mineral uranotantalum. Heinrich Rose, as a token of gratitude, offered to rename the mineral and call it Samarskite. As Rose wrote, “in honor of Colonel Samarsky, by whose favor I was able to make all the above observations on this mineral”. The presence of a new element in Samarskite was proved only in 1879 by Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who called this element samarium.
Fermi and Einsteinium
In 1953, isotopes of two new elements were discovered in the products of a thermonuclear explosion, which the Americans made in 1952, which they named fermium and einsteinium - after physicists Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein.
Curium
The element was obtained in 1944 by a group of American physicists led by Glenn Seaborg by bombarding plutonium with helium nuclei. It was named after Pierre and Marie Curie. In the table of elements, curium is right under gadolinium - so scientists, when coming up with a name for a new element, may have meant that it was gadolinium that was the first element named after the scientist's last name. In the element symbol (Cm), the first letter stands for Curie's surname, the second for Mary's name.
Mendelevium
For the first time, Seaborg's group announced its receipt in 1955, but only in 1958 reliable data were obtained at Berkeley. Named after D.I. Mendeleev.
Nobelium
For the first time, its receipt was reported in 1957 by an international group of scientists working in Stockholm, which proposed to name the element in honor of Alfred Nobel. Later it became clear that the results were erroneous. The first reliable data on element 102 were obtained in the USSR by the group of G.N. Flerov in 1966. Scientists have proposed to rename the element in honor of the French physicist Frederic Joliot-Curie and call it joliotium (Jl). As a compromise, there was also a proposal to name the element flory - in honor of Flerov. The question remained open, and for several decades the nobelium symbol was placed in brackets. This was the case, for example, in the 3rd volume of the Chemical Encyclopedia, published in 1992, which contained an article on Nobelia. However, over time, the issue was resolved, and starting with the 4th volume of this encyclopedia (1995), as well as in other editions, the nobelium symbol was freed from brackets. In general, the issue of priority in the discovery of transuranic elements has been subject to heated debates for many years - see the articles “Brackets in the periodic table. Epilogue "(" Chemistry and Life ", 1992, No. 4) and" This Time - Forever? "(" Chemistry and Life ", 1997, No. 12). For the names of elements from 102 to 109, the final decision was made on August 30, 1997. In accordance with this decision, the names of superheavy elements are given here.
Lawrence
The production of various isotopes of element 103 was reported in 1961 and 1971 (Berkeley), in 1965, 1967 and 1970 (Dubna). The element was named after Ernest Orlando Lawrence, an American physicist and inventor of the cyclotron. Lawrence is named after the National Laboratory in Berkeley. For many years, the Lr symbol in our periodic tables was placed in brackets.
Rutherfordium
The first experiments on obtaining element 104 were undertaken in the USSR by Ivo Zvara and his colleagues back in the 60s. G.N. Flerov and his co-workers reported on the receipt of another isotope of this element. It was proposed to name it kurchatoviy (symbol Ku) - in honor of the head of the atomic project in the USSR. I.V. Kurchatov. American researchers who synthesized this element in 1969 used a new identification technique, believing that the results obtained earlier could not be considered reliable. They proposed the name Rutherfordium - in honor of the outstanding English physicist Ernest Rutherford, IUPAC proposed the name Dubnium for this element. The International Commission concluded that the honor of the discovery should be shared by both groups.
Seaborgium
Element 106 was received in the USSR. G.N. Flerov with colleagues in 1974 and almost simultaneously in the USA. G. Seaborg with employees. In 1997, IUPAC approved the name seaborgium for this element, in honor of the patriarch of American nuclear researchers Seaborg, who took part in the discovery of plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, california, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium and who by that time was 85 years old. There is a photo in which Seaborg stands near the table of elements and shows with a smile at the symbol Sg.
Boriy
The first reliable information about the properties of element 107 was obtained in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1980s. The element is named after the great Danish scientist Niels Bohr.
New elements of the periodic table will receive today in Moscow official names... The ceremony will take place in Central House of Scientists RAS.
In the 2000s physicists from Dubna (Moscow region) together with American colleagues from Livermore National Laboratory received 114th and 116th elements .
The elements will be named after the laboratories where they were created. The 114th element was named " flerovium" - in honor of Nuclear Reactions Laboratory G.N. Flerova The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, where this element was synthesized. The 116th element was named " livermore"- in honor of the scientists from Livermore National Laboratory who discovered it.
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry designated the new elements as Fl and Lv.
We called Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.
There is no one, - said press secretary of the institute Boris Starchenko... - Everyone left for the Academy of Sciences and will return only tomorrow.
- Tell me, is such a joy at the institute for the first time?
No, this is not the first time we have such joy. Fifteen years ago, the 105th element of the D.I. Mendeleev was named "Dubny"... Previously, this element was called Nielsborium, but it was renamed because it was our scientists who managed to obtain the element at our accelerator.
Boris Mikhailovich was in a hurry to the ceremony, but before hanging up, he managed to say that in addition to 105, 114 and 116 elements, scientists from Dubna were the first in the world to synthesize new, long-lived superheavy elements with serial numbers 113 , 115 ,117 and 118 .
SPECIALIST OPINION
Is this event so important for Russian science? Is this not a fiction, like Petrik filters and other pseudo-achievements of our scientific thought? We asked about this from Evgenia Gudilina, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Materials Science, Moscow State University.
What are you, this is not a fiction, but a great event in Russian science. Finding these elements and naming them is a matter of prestige. Just imagine. These names are imprinted into the periodic table. Forever and ever. They will be studied at school.
- Tell me, why were the names assigned to only 114 and 116? Where did the 115 go?
In fact, scientists from Dubna obtained 115, 117, and 113 and 118 more elements. They, too, will someday be named. The problem is that the naming procedure is very long. It lasts for years. According to the rules, before a new "member" of the periodic table is recognized, it must be discovered in two other laboratories in the world.
- Is this a very difficult process?
Very. Only the first 92 elements of the Mendeleev system exist in nature. The rest are obtained artificially in nuclear reactions. For example, the accelerator in Dubna accelerated atoms to speeds close to the speed of light. After the collision, the nuclei stuck together into larger formations. These formations do not live long. A few fractions of a second. During this time, it is possible to obtain some information about their properties.
Tell me, why highlight new elements? My chemistry teacher said that, in principle, all the properties of elements have long been predicted by physicists and therefore it is absolutely not necessary to get them "live" ...
Well, let's just say the teacher exaggerated. The chemical properties of elements can be calculated only with low accuracy. Molecules with heavy nuclei are difficult to describe.
- But if an element exists for a fraction of a second, how can you manage to describe its properties during this time?
This time is enough to prove that the element is similar to one or another analogue.
- Tell me, is there a limit to the periodic table or can it be extended to infinity?
There is a limit. There is such a beautiful concept of "stability island". This term was derived by our scientists from Dubna. The elements found in this "island" have a relatively long lifetime. In the few fractions of a second they live, one can manage to "identify" and characterize them. Now scientists have obtained almost all the elements from the island of stability. But there are suspicions that there is another island of stability. It is located further than 164 rooms ...
BTW
There are a number of elements in Mendeleev's Periodic Table named after Russian scientists.
Ruthenium, element with atomic number 44. Named after Russia... Ruthenia is the Latin name for Rus. Opened by the professor of Kazan University Karl Klaus in 1844. Klaus isolated it from the Ural platinum ore.
Dubniy, element with serial number 105, was renamed three times. It was first isolated in 1967 by scientists from Dubna. Two months later, the element was discovered by the Ernst Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley (USA). Scientists from Dubna named the element Nielsborium after Niels Bohr. American colleagues suggested the name Ganius in honor of Otto Hahn. Element 105 appears under the name "ganius" in the American Mendeleev system. In 1997, the International Society of Pure and Applied Chemistry eliminated the discrepancy in the names of the elements. Element 105 became Dubna in honor of Dubna, its place of origin.
Kurchatoviy... 104 elements of the system should have been named by this name. Soviet chemists received it in 1964 and proposed a name in honor of the great Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov. However, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry rejected the title. The Americans were not satisfied that the element was named after the creator of the atomic bomb. Now the 104th element in the Mendeleev system is called "Rutherfordium".
Mendeleevium, The 101st element of the system, was allocated by the Americans in 1955. According to the rules, the right to name the new element belongs to those who opened it. In recognition of the great Mendeleev's merits, scientists suggested calling the element Mendeleevium. For nearly ten years, the synthesis of this element has been considered the pinnacle of experimental skill.
Since 1960, there have been disputes between the University of California (USA) and the Dubna Institute over the names of the elements that follow in the periodic table after fermium, which is number 100. As follows from domestic popular scientific publications on chemistry, "in the priority conflict between our and American scientists over the discovery of elements # 102 ... 105 still lacks a competent and independent arbitrator. The question of the final and fair name of the heaviest chemical elements remains unresolved. "
On February 22, 1857, the German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born, after whom the unit of frequency was named. You have met his name more than once in school textbooks on physics. the site recalls famous scientists whose discoveries have immortalized their names in science.
Blaise Pascal
(1623−1662)
“Happiness lies only in peace, and not in vanity,” said the French scientist Blaise Pascal. It seems that he himself did not strive for happiness, having devoted his whole life to persistent research in mathematics, physics, philosophy and literature. His father was engaged in the education of the future scientist, having drawn up an extremely complex program in the field of natural sciences. Already at the age of 16, Pascal wrote his work "Experience on conical sections". Now the theorem about which this work was told is called Pascal's theorem. The brilliant scientist became one of the founders of mathematical analysis and probability theory, and also formulated the main law of hydrostatics. Pascal devoted his free time to literature. He penned "Letters of a Provincial", ridiculing the Jesuits, and serious religious works.
Pascal devoted his free time to literature
A pressure unit, a programming language and a French university were named after the scientist. "Accidental discoveries are made only by trained minds," said Blaise Pascal, and in this he was certainly right.
Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
Doctors believed that Isaac was unlikely to live to old age and would suffer from serious diseases- in childhood, his health was very weak. Instead, the English scientist lived for 84 years and laid the foundations of modern physics. Science Newton devoted all his time. His most famous discovery was the law of gravity. The scientist formulated three laws of classical mechanics, the main theorem of analysis, made important discoveries in color theory and invented a mirror telescope.The unit of force, an international award in physics, 7 laws and 8 theorems are named in honor of Newton.
Daniel Gabrielle Fahrenheit 1686-1736
The unit of temperature measurement is named after the scientist - degrees Fahrenheit.Daniel came from a wealthy merchant family. His parents hoped that he would continue the family business, so the future scientist studied trade.
The Fahrenheit scale is still widely used in the United States.
If at some point he did not show interest in applied natural sciences, then the temperature measurement system, which for a long time dominated in Europe, would not have appeared. However, it cannot be called ideal, since the scientist took the body temperature of his wife for 100 degrees, who, as luck would have it, had a cold at that time.Despite the fact that in the second half of the 20th century, the system of the German scientist was replaced by the Celsius scale, the Fahrenheit temperature scale is still widely used in the United States.
Anders Celsius (1701-1744)
It is a mistake to think that a scientist's life was spent in his study.
The degree Celsius was named after the Swedish scientist.No wonder Anders Celsius dedicated his life to science. His father and both grandfathers taught at a Swedish university, and his uncle was an orientalist and botanist. Anders was primarily interested in physics, geology and meteorology. It is a mistake to think that the life of a scientist proceeded only in his study. He took part in expeditions to the equator, Lapland and studied the Northern Lights. In the meantime, Celsius invented a temperature scale, in which the boiling point of water was taken as 0 degrees, and the temperature of ice melting as 100 degrees. Subsequently, the biologist Karl Linnaeus converted the Celsius scale, and today it is used all over the world.
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta (1745-1827)
People around him noticed the makings of a future scientist in Alessandro Volta as a child. At the age of 12, an inquisitive boy decided to explore a spring near the house, where pieces of mica glistened, and almost drowned.
Alessandro received his primary education at the Royal Seminary in the Italian city of Como. At 24 he defended his dissertation.
Alessandro Volta received the title of Senator and Count from Napoleon
Volta designed the world's first chemical source of electric current - the Volta Pillar. He successfully demonstrated a revolutionary discovery for science in France, for which he received the title of senator and count from Napoleon Bonaparte. The unit for measuring electrical voltage is named after the scientist - Volt.
Andre-Marie Ampere (1775-1836)
The contribution of the French scientist to science can hardly be overestimated. It was he who introduced the terms "electric current" and "cybernetics". The study of electromagnetism allowed Ampere to formulate the law of interaction between electric currents and to prove the theorem on the circulation of the magnetic field.The unit of electric current is named in his honor.
Georg Simon Ohm (1787-1854)
He received his primary education at a school where only one teacher worked. The future scientist studied works on physics and mathematics independently.
Georg dreamed of solving natural phenomena, and he was quite successful. He proved the connection between resistance, voltage and current in a circuit. Ohm's Law is known (or would like to believe that he knows) every student.Georg also received his Ph.D. and has been sharing his knowledge with German university students over the years.The unit of electrical resistance is named after him.
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894)
Without the discoveries of the German physicist, television and radio would simply not exist. Heinrich Hertz investigated the electric and magnetic fields, experimentally confirmed Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light. For his discovery, he received several prestigious scientific awards, including even the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure.
One of the fundamental sciences of our planet is physics and its laws. Every day we use the benefits of physicists who have been working for many years to make people's lives more comfortable and better. The existence of all mankind is built on the laws of physics, although we do not think about it. Thanks to whom the lights are on in our homes, we can fly on airplanes across the sky and sail across the endless seas and oceans. We will talk about scientists who dedicated themselves to science. Who are the most famous physicists, whose works have changed our lives forever. There are a great many great physicists in the history of mankind. We will tell about seven of them.
Albert Einstein (Switzerland) (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein one of the greatest physicists of mankind was born on March 14, 1879 in the German city of Ulm. The great theoretical physicist can be called a man of the world, he had to live in a difficult time for all mankind during two world wars and often move from one country to another.
Einstein wrote over 350 papers in physics. He is the creator of the special (1905) and general theory of relativity (1916), the principle of equivalence of mass and energy (1905). Developed many scientific theories: quantum photoelectric effect and quantum heat capacity. Together with Planck, he developed the foundations of quantum theory, which represent the foundation of modern physics. Einstein has received a large number of awards for his work in the field of science. The crown of all awards is the Nobel Prize, which Albert received in physics in 1921.
Nikola Tesla (Serbia) (1856-1943)
The famous physicist-inventor was born in the small village of Smilyan on July 10, 1856. Tesla's works were far ahead of the time in which the scientist lived. Nikola is called the father of modern electricity. He made many discoveries and inventions, having received more than 300 patents for his creations in all countries where he worked. Nikola Tesla was not only a theoretical physicist, but also a brilliant engineer who created and tested his inventions.
Tesla discovered alternating current, wireless transmission of energy, electricity, his work led to the discovery of X-rays, created a machine that caused vibrations of the earth's surface. Nikola predicted the coming of the era of robots capable of doing any job. Because of his extravagant demeanor, he did not gain recognition during his lifetime, but without his work it is difficult to imagine the daily life of a modern person.
Isaac Newton (England) (1643-1727)
One of the fathers of classical physics was born on January 4, 1643 in the town of Woolsthorpe in Great Britain. He was first a member and later the head of the Royal Society of Great Britain. Isaac formed and proved the main laws of mechanics. He substantiated the movement of the planets of the solar system around the sun, as well as the onset of the ebb and flow. Newton laid the foundation for modern physical optics. From the huge list of works of the great scientist, physicist, mathematician and astronomer, two works stand out, one of which was written in 1687 and "Optics" came out of the pen in 1704. The top of his work is the law of universal gravitation, known even to a ten-year-old kid.
Stephen Hawking (England)
The most famous physicist of our time appeared on our planet on January 8, 1942 in Oxford. Stephen Hawking received his education at Oxford and Cambridge, where he taught later, and also worked at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Physics. The main works of his life are connected with quantum gravity and cosmology.
Hawking investigated the theory of the origin of the world as a result of the Big Bang. He developed the theory of the disappearance of black holes, due to the phenomenon that received the name in his honor, Hawking radiation. He is considered the founder of quantum cosmology. A member of the oldest scientific society, which was still Newton's member, of the Royal Society of London for many years, joining it in 1974, and is considered one of the youngest members admitted to the society. With all his might, he introduces contemporaries to science with the help of his books and participating in television programs.
Maria Curie-Sklodowska (Poland, France) (1867-1934)
The most famous female physicist was born on November 7, 1867 in Poland. She graduated from the prestigious Sorbonne University, where she studied physics and chemistry, and later became the first woman teacher in the history of her Alma Mater. Together with her husband Pierre and the famous physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel, they studied the interaction of uranium salts and sunlight, as a result of experiments, they received new radiation, which was called radioactivity. For this discovery, together with her colleagues, she received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903. Maria was a member of many scientific societies around the globe. Forever went down in history as the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in two nominations for chemistry in 1911 and physics.
Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen (Germany) (1845-1923)
Roentgen first saw our world in Lennep, Germany on March 27, 1845. He taught at the University of Würzburg, where on November 8, 1985, he made a discovery that changed the life of all mankind forever. He managed to discover X-radiation, which later received the name in honor of the scientist - X-ray. His discovery was the impetus for the emergence of a number of new trends in science. Wilhelm Konrad went down in history as the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics.
Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov (USSR, Russia)
On May 21, 1921, the future creator of the hydrogen bomb was born. Sakharov wrote a lot of scientific papers on elementary particles and cosmology, magnetohydrodynamics and astrophysics. But his main achievement is the creation of a hydrogen bomb. Sakharov was a genius physicist in the history of not only the vast country of the USSR, but also the world.