List of chemical elements named after people

This is a list of chemical elements named after people. The symbol and atomic number are given in brackets.

For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see Lists of etymologies.

For a list of eponyms sorted by name see List of eponyms.

• bohrium (Bh, 107) — Niels Bohr
• copernicium (Cn, 112) — Nicolaus Copernicus
• curium (Cm, 96) — Pierre and Marie Curie
• einsteinium (Es, 99) — Albert Einstein
• fermium (Fm, 100) — Enrico Fermi
• gallium (Ga, 31) — although named after Gallia (Latin for France), the discoverer of the metal Lecoq de Boisbaudran subtly attached an association with his name. Lecoq (rooster) in Latin is gallus.
• lawrencium (Lr, 103) — Ernest Lawrence
• meitnerium (Mt, 109) — Lise Meitner
• mendelevium (Md, 101) — Dmitri Mendeleev
• nobelium (No, 102) — Alfred Nobel
• roentgenium (Rg, 111) — Wilhelm Roentgen
• rutherfordium (Rf, 104) — Ernest Rutherford
• seaborgium (Sg, 106) — Glenn T. Seaborg

The element naming controversy that surrounded elements 104 to 109 saw two further names derived from people gain partial acceptance. Neither was or is accepted by IUPAC.

• hahnium (Ha, 105) — Otto Hahn. Now known as dubnium.
• kurchatovium (Ku, 104) — Igor Kurchatov. Now known as rutherfordium.

Named after mythical characters

• iridium (Ir, 77) — Iris, from Greek mythology
• niobium (Nb, 41) — Niobe, a mortal woman in Greek mythology
• promethium (Pm, 61) — Prometheus, a Titan from Greek mythology
• tantalum (Ta, 73) — Tantalus, from Greek mythology
• thorium (Th, 90) — Thor, the Norse god of thunder
• titanium (Ti, 22) — the Titans, from Greek mythology
• vanadium (V, 23) — Scandinavian goddess Vanadis (Freyja)

Many chemical elements are named after astronomical bodies which are named after Greek or Roman deities. See Chemical elements named after places.

• Gadolinium (Gd, 64) is named from the mineral gadolinite, which in turn is named after the Finnish chemist and geologist Johan Gadolin.
• Samarium (Sm, 62) is named from the mineral samarskite which in turn is named after Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, a Russian mine official.

See also

• List of elements by name
• Chemical elements named after places
• Lists of etymologies
• Lists of people

gl:Elementos químicos con nome de persoa