The team that discovered element 112 at GSI Darmstadt has proposed naming it “copernicium”, with the element symbol “Cp”, in honour of the scientist and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) should officially endorse the new element’s name in around six months, the period set to allow the scientific community to discuss the proposal.
Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543, paved the way for the modern view of the universe when he firmly planted the Earth in orbit about the Sun in his famous work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. With its planets revolving around the Sun on different orbits, the solar system became a model for other physical systems, in particular the atom, with electrons in orbit around the nucleus. Although this model of the atom soon became surpassed by quantum mechanics, it still provides a strong visual image. In an atom of the new element, 112 electrons surround the nucleus.
Element 112 was first observed 13 years ago but has only recently received official recognition from IUPAC. It is the heaviest element discovered so far in the periodic table, being 277 times heavier than hydrogen. Produced by nuclear fusion when bombarding zinc ions onto a lead target, the element rapidly decays so its existence can be proved only with the help of extremely fast and sensitive analysis methods. Twenty-one scientists from Germany, Finland, Russia and Slovakia were involved in the experiments at GSI that led to the discovery.
