Name and symbol of new Japanese element under public review

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has this week launched a public review of the name and symbol of a new chemical element discovered in Japan, which researchers hope to call ‘nihonium’ or ‘Nh’.

At a press conference held on Thursday at Tokyo’s RIKEN research center, scientists there who discovered the atomic element 113 spoke about the decision to call it ‘nihonium’ and the process of the name being reviewed.

The press conference followed an announcement by RIKEN on Wednesday evening that IUPAC the highest authority in the field had begun a public review of the name and symbol, after both passed an internal assessment.

The public review will take five months, following which IUPAC will officially announce the name and symbol of the new element, RIKEN said.

‘Nihonium’ comes from the Japanese word ‘Nihon’, meaning Japan, and will be added to the periodic table pending IUPAC’s final approval.

“We are honored to have the name of an element discovered by a research group in Japan earn a permanent seat on the periodic table, an intellectual legacy that will be passed down to future generations for the benefit of humankind,” said the director of RIKEN’s Superheavy Element Production Team group, Kosuke Morita.

“It is our hope that seeing the new element discovered in Japan in the periodic table will make people proud and generate increased interest in science which, in turn will likely lead to a more scientificallyminded general public,” he added.

Other elements up for IUPAC public review in the coming months are moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts), and oganesson (Og).