List of scientists whose names are used in chemical element names

Sixteen of the chemical elements are named after people, fourteen after scientists. One additional element has been proposed to be named after a scientist. Below is the list of scientists whose names are used in chemical element names.[1] Only gadolinium and samarium occur in nature. The rest are synthetic.


Table

The following 14 elements are named after scientists.

Scientist Element
Name Specialty Life Nationality Discovery Name Symbol Atomic no.
 
Johan Gadolin 1760–1852 Finnish1886GadoliniumGd64
Marie Curie
Pierre Curie
1867–1934
1859–1906
Polish-French
French
1944CuriumCm96
Albert Einstein theoretical physicist 1879–1955German-American1952EinsteiniumEs99
Enrico Fermi 1901–1954Italian-American1952FermiumFm100
Dmitri Mendeleev 1834–1907Russian1955MendeleviumMd101
Alfred Nobel 1833–1896Swedish1958NobeliumNo102
Ernest Lawrence 1901–1958American1961LawrenciumLr103
Ernest Rutherford 1871–1937New Zealand-British1964RutherfordiumRf104
Glenn T. Seaborg 1912–1999American1974SeaborgiumSg106
Niels Bohr 1885–1962Danish1981BohriumBh107
Lise Meitner 1878–1968Austrian-Swedish1982MeitneriumMt109
Wilhelm Röntgen 1845–1923German1994RoentgeniumRg111
Nicolaus Copernicus 1473–1543Polish-German1996CoperniciumCn112
Georgy Flyorov 1913–1990Russian1998FleroviumFl114
Yuri Oganessian 1933–Armenian-Russian2002OganessonOg118

The following elements are named after individuals that were not scientists.

Individual Element
Name Specialty Lifespan Nationality Discovery Name Symbol Atomic no.
Vasili Samarsky-BykhovetsMining engineer 1803–1870Russian 1879SamariumSm62
Robert LivermoreLand owner 1799-1858 American2000 Livermorium Lv 116

See also

References

  1. Kevin A. Boudreaux. "Derivations of the Names and Symbols of the Elements". Angelo State University.
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