New element named after its German birthplace
Chemical element 110 has been officially named darmstadtium, in recognition of the German town of Darmstadt where the substance was first created in 1994. The name was confirmed at the general assembly of the international union of pure and applied chemistry (IUPAC) in Ottawa on 16 August. Darmstadtium, with the chemical symbol Ds, continues a long established tradition of naming elements after the place in which they are discovered. Darmstadtium was first produced by a team of scientists from the laboratory for heavy ion research (GSI) in Darmstadt, led by Dr Sigurd Hofmann. They created the new element through fusion evaporation, by bombarding an enriched lead target with nickel ions. The discovery was confirmed by an IUPAC working party in 2001, and in accordance with tradition, Dr Hofmann and his colleagues were invited to propose a name and symbol for element 110. Dieter Ackermann from the heavy element team at GSI told CORDIS News: 'Calling the element 'darmstadtium' carries on a tradition that began in the 1950s with californium. Also, there are many people from Darmstadt and the surrounding areas working at GSI, and the name is also in recognition of their contribution to this discovery.' Many new elements have been created in laboratories since the practice began in 1939. Some were also discovered in the fallout from nuclear weapons tests carried out in the 1950s. The naturally occurring elements run out at number 92 (uranium).
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