- Hesperium
Hesperium (also known as esperium;
atomic symbol Es) was the name assigned to the element withatomic number 94, now known asplutonium .It was named in Italian "Esperio" after a Greek name of Italy, Hesperia, "the land of the West".The same team assigned the nameausonium to element 93, afterAusonia , a poetic name of Italy.The discovery of the element, now discredited, was made by
Enrico Fermi and a team of scientists at the University of Rome in 1934. Following the discovery ofnuclear fission in 1938, it was realized that Fermi's discovery was actually a mixture ofBarium ,Krypton , and other elements. The actual element was discovered several years later, and assigned the name plutonium.Fascist authorities wanted that one of the elements was named "
littorio " after the Roman "lictor es" who carried the "fasces ", a symbol appropriated by Fascism.References
* [http://www.vanderkrogt.net/elements/elem/np.html Element name etymologies] . Retrieved
February 4 ,2007 .
*Enrico Fermi, [http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-lecture.pdf Artifical radioactivity produced by neutron bombardment] , Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1938.
*cite journal | title = The Search for Transuranium Elements and the Discovery of Nuclear Fission | journal = Physics in Perspective | volume = 2 | issue = 1 | year = 2000 | doi = 10.1007/s000160050036 | pages = 48–62| first = Ruth Lewin | last = Sime
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