Chemical elements named after places
Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHE : Chemical elements named after places
This is a list of chemical elements named after places. For a list of other toponyms, i.e., names derived from a place or region, see List of toponyms.
- americium – The Americas
- berkelium – city of Berkeley, California, home of the University of California
- californium – state of California and University of California, Berkeley
- copper is probably named after Cyprus
- darmstadtium – Darmstadt, Germany
- dubnium – Dubna, Russia
- erbium – Ytterby, Sweden
- europium – Europe
- francium – France
- gallium – Gallia, Latin for France. Frenchman Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who was the discoverer of the metal, named it after his country and also subtly for himself. Lecoq (rooster) in Latin is gallus.
- germanium – Germany
- hafnium – Hafnia, Latin for Copenhagen
- hassium – Hesse, Germany
- holmium – Holmia, Latin for Stockholm
- lutetium – Lutetia, Latin for Paris
- magnesium – Magnesia prefecture in Thessaly, Greece
- polonium – Poland
- rhenium – Rhenus, Latin for Rhine
- ruthenium – Ruthenia, Latin for Rus'
- scandium – Scandia, Latin for Scandinavia
- strontium – Strontian, Scotland
- terbium – Ytterby, Sweden
- thulium – Thule, a mythical island in the far north, perhaps Scandinavia
- ytterbium – Ytterby, Sweden
- yttrium – Ytterby, Sweden
Additionally, the following elements are named after astronomical objects:
- cerium – Ceres
- helium – Helios, the Greek name for the Sun
- neptunium – Neptune
- palladium – Pallas
- plutonium – Pluto
- selenium – Selene, the Greek name for the Moon
- tellurium – Tellus, the Latin name for the Earth
- uranium – Uranus
See also
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.