Chemical elements named after people - Definition and Overview

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
• curium (Cm, 96) – Pierre Curie 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.
• hahnium (105) – Otto Hahn. This element name is not accepted by IUPAC. See element naming controversy
• 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

Named after fictional characters

• 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 and warm summer weather
• titanium (Ti, 22) – the Titans, from Greek mythology
• vanadium (Va, 23) – Scandinavian goddess Vanadis (Freya)

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

• 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 Colonel Samarski, a Russian mine official.

See also

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