— Georgy Flyorov is honoured in the naming of element 114

In a piece of showmanship no doubt intended to further raise the profile of chemistry, Nicole Moreau, president of Iupac, announced at the closing ceremony of the International Year of Chemistry the proposed names for elements 114 and 116, whose discovery was officially ratified in May of this year.

The discoverers of the brand new elements, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, US, agreed on the names flerovium (Fl) for element 114 and livermorium (Lv) for element 116. These names have been OK’d by Iupac’s inorganic chemistry division paving the way for the provisional recommendations. Now, the names are open for public comment and after five months the inorganic division will make a decision on whether or not to accept the new names.

Livermorium is obviously named after the lab, while flerovium is the Russian lab’s tribute to the physicist Georgy Flyorov. What do you think of the new names? What would you have called them?

Patrick Walter

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?feed=rss2