Discworld fans stake claim to element 117

Re: May I be the 94th to suggest

Beat me to it, and as the original Starman it's in with a good shot.

There's enough elements that need naming, surely they can have one of each?

Re: May I be the 94th to suggest

May I suggest Nimoynium, it's the logical choice Captain.

Re: May I be the 94th to suggest

In the spirit of The Spiders from Mars

Ladystardustium

Re: May I be the 94th to suggest

Bowieum and Ziggium - these are better candidates than mediocre guitarists and writers.

Did pTerry ask for an element to be named in his honour? No he didn't, same with Lemmy (and I guess now Bowie). None of them have asked for an element to be named after them, this is something the fans of each of them has asked in order that they'll be remembered going forward. It's probably unlikely that any of them will be picked (after all names are chosen by the discovering scientists, but their views on the mythological status of the Discworld or Lemmy's contributions to Heavy Metals is unknown at this time).

Personally I think each has it's merits (including the probably soon to be requested Bowium). As stated elsewhere Lemmy already has a star named after him and lets face it he was Heavy Metal (not to forget being a former member of the original space cadets, Hawkwind). pTerry created a rich mythos in his Discworld series, which at times needed several degrees in literature and the sciences in order to fully get the most out of. And for me Bowie was the original Starman, and you can't argue that he gave a certain Canadian astronaut one of the coolest sendoffs from the ISS possible with Space Oddity played in outer space.

Octarinium?

The rules had better not say that. Walking down the group we have Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Astatine and <this one>. The "ium" ending is traditional for metals and most of the trans-uranic elements to date have been metals, but 117 is a halogen and any self-respecting chemist would insist on a name ending in -ine.

Are you saying that Discwolrd doesn't have a mythological basis?

It might be modern, but it's still myth:

Myth - from the Greek word mythos (μύθος), which simply means "story".

Just as a quick game, which musicians are also scientists?

William Herschel, composer and astronomer.

Brian May, who has played with Bowie on Queen's Under Pressure, has his PhD for zodiacal dust.... who else? Join in, folks!

Re: A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End

Better to be off by 109 than off by 110 ;)

Re: A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End

The eight-ish connection is a fair point, but the petitioners did put some thought into it; from the article:

> According to Disc mythology, octarine is visible only to wizards and cats, and is generally described as a sort of greenish-yellow purple colour, which seems perfect for what will probably be the final halogen in the periodic table

So we have the right sort of colour and the name fits in well: flourine, chlorine, iodine ... octarine

Re: A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End

"Octarine, associated with all things eight-ish, but the petitioners decided to go with 117 instead of 118 ?"

Because 117 is a halogen, and therefore can end with "ine" instead of "ium"

Re: A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End

Shouldn't we just go for a trawl in L-space to see if we can figure out what the next couple of elements will be called, that way we don't have to worry about the suspence!

Got too say I'm all for Oook.

Re: Scientist's tribute to Terry Pratchett

"It’s very hard to talk quantum using a language originally designed to tell other monkeys where the ripe fruit is.'"

Always one of my favourites, just behind....

"It is hard to convey five-dimensional ideas in a language evolved to scream defiance at the monkeys in the next tree”

― Terry Pratchett, Darwin's Watch: The Science of Discworld III: A Novel

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