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IUPAC has officially approved  the name copernicium, with symbol Cn, for the element of atomic number  112.

Priority for the discovery of this element was assigned, in accordance  with the agreed criteria, to the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung  (GSI) (Center for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt, Germany. The team  at GSI proposed the name copernicium which has now been approved by  IUPAC. Sigurd Hofmann, leader of the GSI team stated that the intent  was to "salute an influential scientist who didn't receive any  accolades in his own lifetime, and highlight the link between astronomy  and the field of nuclear chemistry."

The name proposed by the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) lies within the long tradition of naming  elements to honor famous scientists. Nicolaus Copernicus was born on  19 February 1473, in Torún, Poland and died on 24 May 1543, in Frombork/Frauenburg  also in Poland. His work has been of exceptional influence on the philosophical  and political thinking of mankind and on the rise of modern science  based on experimental results. During his time as a canon of the Cathedral  in Frauenburg, Copernicus spent many years developing a conclusive model  for complex astronomical observations of the movements of the sun, moon,  planets and stars. His work published as “De revolutionibus orbium  coelestium, liber sixtus” in 1543 had very far reaching consequences.  Indeed the Copernican model demanded major changes in the view of the  world related to astronomy and physical forces and well as having theological  and political consequences. The planetary system introduced by Copernicus  has been applied to other analogous systems in which objects move under  the influence of a force directed towards a common centre. Notably,  on a microscopic scale this is the Bohr model of the atom with its nucleus  and orbiting electrons.

The Recommendations will be  published in the March issue of the IUPAC journal Pure and Applied  Chemistry and is available online at Pure Appl. Chem., 2010,  Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. pp 753-755 (doi: 10.1351/PAC-REC-09-08-20). Priority  of claims to the discovery of the element of atomic number 112 was determined  by a joint working party of independent experts drawn from the International  Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the International Union  of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The group’s report was published  in July 2009, Pure Appl. Chem., 2009, Vol. 81, No. 7, pp. 1331-1343  (doi: 10.1351/PAC-REP-08-03-05). The Joint Working Party will issue  a second report, dealing with claims for the discovery of elements with  atomic numbers in the range 113 to 118, in the near future.

IUPAC was formed in 1919  by chemists from industry and academia. For  more than 90 years, the Union has succeeded in fostering worldwide communications  in the chemical sciences and in uniting academic, industrial and public  sector chemistry in a common language. IUPAC is recognized as the world  authority on chemical nomenclature, terminology, standardized methods  for measurement, atomic weights and many other critically evaluated  data. More information about IUPAC and its activities is available at www.iupac.org.

For questions, contact  Dr. Terrence Renner, Executive Director, at <>.