In honour of scientist and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the discovering team around Professor Sigurd Hofmann suggested the name copernicium with the element symbol Cp for the new element 112, discovered at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Center for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt. It was Copernicus who discovered that the Earth orbits the Sun, thus paving the way for our modern view of the world. Thirteen years ago, element 112 was discovered by an international team of scientists at the GSI accelerator facility. A few weeks ago, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC, officially confirmed their discovery. In around six months, IUPAC will officially endorse the new element's name. This period is set to allow the scientific community to discuss the suggested name copernicium before the IUPAC naming.

Darmstadt, June 10, 2009

The new element 112 discovered by GSI has been officially recognized and will be named by the Darmstadt group in due course. Their suggestion should be made public over this summer.

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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2007 to Gerhard Ertl of the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany "for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces".

Like blowing bubbles, making persistent micelles could soon be child's play thanks to researchers in Germany. Their new technique for producing these hollow nanoscopic spheres could revolutionise model studies of cell membranes and other systems. Their work might also lead to novel nano-scale reaction vessels, new catalysts, sensor components, and biocompatible drug-delivery capsules. Read the full article by David Bradley Science Writer in Issue 36 of Spectral Lines, the spectroscopy webzine.

IUPAC have made a provisional recommendation about the name for element 111. To quote: "A joint IUPAC-IUPAP Working Party (JWP) has confirmed the discovery of element number 111 and this by the collaboration of Hofmann et al. from the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung mbH (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. In accord with IUPAC procedures, the discoverers have proposed a name and symbol for the element. The Inorganic Chemistry Division Committee now recommends this proposal for acceptance. The proposed name is roentgenium with symbol Rg.

This proposal lies within the long established tradition of naming elements to honour famous scientists. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895."