Well attestedNamed from the place
francium
noun · first attested 1939
Its discoverer first wanted to call it catium, and was told it would sound like cat in English.
The alkali metal element 87, the second rarest naturally occurring element, whose longest-lived isotope has a half-life of 22 minutes.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1939
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
France
- In English
francium
Marguerite Perey identified element 87 at the Curie Institute in Paris in 1939, in the decay of actinium-227. She proposed catium for its strongly electropositive character, then named it for her country instead. IUPAC adopted francium in 1949. Perey later became the first woman elected to the French Academy of Sciences.
Also pinned to France
8 more from the same place
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France
All 57 entries 48 more words from France
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