The Periodic Table

1. Research the origin of the names of 3 elements and the history of their
discovery.

● Curium​: Named after Marie and Pierre Curie, the co-discoverers of radioactivity. Curium
was the third synthetic transuranium element of the actinide series to be discovered. It
was discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A.James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944
.
● Helium​: named after the Sun, discovered by a french astronomer Pierre Janssen in
1868. He was observing a solar eclipse in India when he noticed the yellow spectral
emission lines of the element.

● Titanium​: Named after the Titans, sons of the Earth Goddess.The first titanium mineral, a
black sand called menachanite, was discovered in 1791 in Cornwall by the Reverend
William Gregor. In 1795, the German scientist Martin Heinrich Klaproth of Berlin
investigated a red ore known as Schörl from Hungary. This is a form of rutile (TiO2) and
Klaproth realised it was the oxide of a previously unknown element which he named
titanium.

2. Find 2 elements for each category- elements named after gods, planets,
latin words, scientists and places.

Gods
● Mercury: Mercury, the Roman messenger of the gods
● Promethium: Prometheus, a Greek god who stole fire from the gods and gave it to
mankind.

Planets
● Neptunium: Neptune.
● Uranium: Uranus.

Latin Words
● Copper: Cuprum
● Antimony: Stibium
Scientists
● Einsteinium: Albert Einstein.
● Fermium: Enrico Fermi, the inventor of the first nuclear reactor.

Places
● Californium: state (and University) of California.
● Francium: France.