Galileo Kepler Biot Herschel
waht said:
The element was named after Copernicus because it is the year of astronomy.
hmm … from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Astronomy"
The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) is a year-long celebration of astronomy, taking place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century.[1] The Year was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations.
…
In 1609, Galileo Galilei first turned one of his telescopes to the night sky and made astounding discoveries that changed humankind's understanding of our position in the Universe, including mountains and craters on the Moon, a plethora of stars invisible to the naked eye, and moons around Jupiter.[8] In the same year, Johannes Kepler published his work Astronomia nova—in which he described the fundamental laws of planetary motions.
Seems to me
Galileium and
Keplerium have considerable prioirity over
Copernicium.
Also, Galileo laid the foundations of mechanics, which is 50% of quantum mechanics (well, you get my drift
…).
And there are astronomers who were also important chemists …
for example,
Biot, whose chemistry is well-known, pioneered the study of
meteorites … see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Biot"
and
http://www.gordonmoyes.com/2009/01/29/2009-the-international-year-of-astronomy/" …
John Herschel (1792 – 1871) was an English mathematician, astronomer and chemist. Herschel originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named 7 moons of Saturn and 4 moons of Uranus. He surveyed the Southern Skies as his father William Herschel had surveyed before him.
(and John Herschel Glenn was the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Herschel_Glenn"
… so
Herschelium could be named after
two astronomers
and an astronaut!
waht said:
The nomenclature of the periodic table is nothing but arbitrary.
alxm said:
We could always use more elements named after Ytterby …
No, it
isn't arbitrary … they're usually named after the place (or country) where they were discovered (eg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterbium#History"), or after their nature or appearance or how they were discovered (eg Helium in the sun, Lanthanum from the Greek for "hidden"), or after the discoverer or a scientist connected with the underlying science (eg Einsteinium, Fermium, Mendeleevium).
(oh, and Nobel
paid for his!
)
waht said:
There are elements named after planets, and even dwarf planets.
Yes, Uranium and Cerium were named after planets which had just been discovered (and Neptunium and Plutonium were named after Uranium!) … which is reasonable since
i] discovering a planet is a bit like discovering an element
ii] planets are made of elements!
