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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.comics,net.sci
Subject: Re: promethium
Message-ID: <6588@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 13-Apr-86 01:55:18 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6588
Posted: Sun Apr 13 01:55:18 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Apr-86 01:55:18 EST
References: <921@ellie.UUCP> <36000125@uiucdcs>, <943@ellie.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21

> (For those of you who are confused, chemists used to get into fist fights
> over naming new elements, back when the periodic table was full of holes.

I have news for you:  they still do.  There is, um, a small difference of
opinion on the names for elements 104 and 105.  104 is either Hahnium or
Kurchatovium; 105 is Rutherfordium or I-forget-what.  As you might guess
from those names, it's Western researchers vs. Soviet researchers.  It's
not just a dispute over timing; the argument is over whether the Soviet
researchers really detected the elements in question or not.

Not to mention that the jury is *still* out, to some extent, on whether
tantalum is really columbium.

> If you learned chemistry by just taking a college course, you probably
> never heard of elements like illinium and aldebaranium.)

Not to mention coronium.
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