Elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 of the periodic table are muscling their way out of anonymity. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the gatekeeper of the periodic table, has put forth new names for the four superheavy, radioactive elements occupying the table’s seventh row: nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson, according to an article from The New York Times. The organization recognized the newbies in December and reportedly awarded naming rights to teams of scientists from the U.S., Russia and Japan, who discovered them.
Scientists from Japan’s Riken Institute who chose nihonium are the first from Asia to propose an addition to the table, according to the article. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, in Russia; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee; and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California reportedly proposed names for elements 115 and 117. The Russian team and the Americans from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory also named element 118. Other suggestions (from those with no real authority to influence the table) reportedly included “lemmium,” proposed by 150,000 heavy metal music fans for Lemmy Kilmister of the band Motorhead (see "Will Elements Be Named After Magic And Motörhead?") and “trumpium” and “godzilluum,” offered up by New York Times readers.
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