List of chemical elements naming controversies

:"This page was created by moving information from List of chemical element name etymologies"

Element 23

Vanadium (named after Vanadis, another name for Frøya, the Scandinavian goddess of fertility) was originally discovered by Andrés Manuel del Río (a Spanish-born Mexican mineralogist) in Mexico City, in 1801. He discovered the element after being sent a sample of "brown lead" ore (now named vanadinite). Through experimentation, he found it to form salts with a wide variety of colors, so he named the element panchromium (Greek: all colors). He later renamed this compound erythronium, since most of the salts turned red when heated. The French chemist Hippolyte Victor Collet-Descotils incorrectly declared that del Río's new element was only impure chromium. Del Río thought himself to be mistaken and accepted the statement of the French chemist that was also backed by del Río's friend Baron Alexander von Humboldt.cite journal
title = The Road to Chemical Names and Eponyms: Discovery, Priority, and Credit
author = Pedro Cintas
journal = Angewandte Chemie International Edition
volume = 43
issue = 44
pages = 5888 – 5894
year = 2004
url =
doi = 10.1002/anie.200330074 ]

In 1831, Sefström of Sweden rediscovered vanadium in a new oxide he found while working with some iron ores and later that same year Friedrich Wöhler confirmed del Río's earlier work.cite journal
title = Ueber das Vanadin, ein neues Metall, gefunden im Stangeneisen von Eckersholm, einer Eisenhütte, die ihr Erz von Taberg in Småland bezieht
author = N. G. Sefström
journal = Annalen der Physik und Chemie
volume = 97
issue = 1
pages = 43 – 49
year = 1831
url =
doi = 10.1002/andp.18310970103 ] Later,
George William Featherstonhaugh, one of the first US geologists, suggested that the element should be named "rionium" after del Río, but this never happened.

Elements 41 & 74

Hatchett named element 41 Columbium (Cb), but IUPAC officially adopted Niobium in 1950 after 100 years of controversy. This was a compromise of sorts, the IUPAC accepted, Tungsten instead of Wolfram (in deference to North American usage) and Niobium instead of Columbium (in deference to European usage).

However, while many leading chemical societies and government organizations refer to it by the official IUPAC name, but many leading metallurgists, metal societies, and most leading American commercial producers still refer to the metal by the Columbium (for Niobium), and by the same token in many countries of Europe, still refer to the metal by the Wolfram (for Tungsten).

Elements 70 & 71

Gadolinite, the mineral (from Ytterby, the village), consist several compounds (the oxides or earths) as Yttria, Erbia (sub-component as Ytterbia) and Terbia.

In 1878 Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac assumed that Ytterbia consist a new element he ahead called Ytterbium. (but actually, there were 2 new elements) In 1907 Georges Urbain isolated element 70 and element 71 from Ytterbia. He called element 70 Neoytterbia (means "new Ytterbium") and called element 71 Lutecia. At about the same time, Carl Auer von Welsbach also independently isolated these and proposed the names Aldebaranium, after the star Aldebaran of Taurus (constellation), for the element 70 (Ytterbium), and Cassiopium, after the Cassiopeia (constellation), for element 71 (Lutetium), but both proposals were rejected.

Latest Neoytterbia (element 70) was eventually reverted back to Ytterbium (follow Marignac) and in 1949 the spelling of Lutetium (element 71) was changed to Lutetium. Although German chemists still call Cassiopium instead of Lutetium.

(Another element, as Yttrium (element 39) and Gadolinium (element 64), was also discovered in Gadolinite and its components. No controversy on its names)

Elements 103-109

At the time of its discovery, There was an element naming controversy as to what (particularly) the elements from 101 to 109 were to be called. At last, a committee of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) resolve the dispute and adopte one name. All the way to, adopted a temporary systematic element name.

* About element 103,
IUPAC ratified the name Lawrencium (Lr) during a meeting in Geneva, the name was preferred by the American Chemical Society.

* About element 104,

Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, (U.S.S.R.) named Kurchatovium (K-260). But, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A. named Rutherfordium in honor of Lord Rutherford of Nelson). In 1994 a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 104 be named Rutherfordium.

* About element 105,
Joint Nuclear Research Institute in Dubna named Dubnium after Dubna. But, University of California in Berkeley also named Hahnium in honor of Otto Hahn. IUPAC recommended that element 105 be named Dubnium.

* About element 105 & 107,
Some suggested the name Nielsbohrium (named in honor of Niels Bohr), others believed this name should be given to element 105 (Dubnium) , the name too like element 107 (Bohrium) . IUPAC adopted Unnilseptium (Uns) as a temporary systematic element name. In 1994 a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 107 be named Bohrium.

While this conforms to the names of other elements honoring individuals, where only the surname is taken, it was opposed by many who were concerned that it could be confused with Boron . Despite this, the name Bohrium for element 107 was recognized internationally in 1997.

* About element 106,
The element was discovered almost simultaneously by 2 different laboratories, in June 1974, a Soviet team led by G. N. Flerov at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna reported producing an isotope 111-259, in September 1974, an American research team led by Albert Ghiorso at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley reported creating an isotope 111-263. Because their work was independently confirmed first, the Americans suggested the name Seaborgium to honor of Glenn T. Seaborg, the American chemist. But this name was extremely controversial because Seaborg was still alive.

An international committee decided in 1992 that the Berkeley and Dubna laboratories should share credit for the discovery. An element naming controversy erupted and as a result IUPAC adopted Unnilhexium (Unh) as a temporary, systematic element name.

In 1994 a committee of IUPAC adopted a rule that no element can be named after a living person. This ruling was fiercely objected to by the American Chemical Society.

Critics pointed out that a precedent had been set in the naming of Einsteinium during Albert Einstein's life. In 1997, as part of a compromise involving elements 104 to 108, the name Seaborgium for element 106 was recognized internationally.

* About element 108,
IUPAC adopted Unniloctium (Uno) as a temporary, systematic element name.In 1994 a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 108 be named Hassium, and the name was adopted internationally, in 1997.

Post-controversial namings

While "Meitnerium" was discussed in the naming controversy, "Meitnerium" was the only proposal, and so never disputed. Elements 110 and 111 were named after the end of the controversy.

* About element 109,
IUPAC adopted Unnilennium (Une) as a temporary, systematic element name. In 1997 a committee of IUPAC resolved the dispute and adopted be name Meitnerium.

* About element 110,
IUPAC adopted Ununnilium (Uun) as a temporary, systematic element name.
Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany, who discovered, recommended that element 110 be named Darmstadtium In August 2003 a committee of IUPAC adopted the name.

* About element 111,
The element has ever been known under the temporary IUPAC systematic element name, Unununium. Some research has referred to it as Eka-gold, means "below Gold ", on hypothesis of Mendeleev's predicted elements. IUPAC accepted the name Roentgenium on November 1 2004.

ee also

*List of chemical element name etymologies
*Chemical elements named after people
*Chemical elements named after places

References