First element discovered in Asia named 'nihonium', after Japan

[Knyro]

Japanese scientists behind the discovery of element 113, the first atomic element found in Asia - indeed, the first found outside Europe or the United States - have dubbed it "nihonium" after the Japanese-language name for their country.

"I believe the fact that we, in Japan, found one of only 118 known atomic elements gives this discovery great meaning," said Kosuke Morita, a university professor who led the discovery team from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science.

"Another important meaning is that until now, all the elements in the periodic table have been discovered in Europe and the United States," he told a news conference on Thursday.

Rest of the article at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-atomic-element-idUSKCN0YV0O7

For those confused about the naming, "Nihon" is Japanese for "Japan".

I checked out some isotope charts for this element, it does not occur naturally on Earth and is extremely unstable. The most stable isotope only has a half-life of 20 seconds.

 

[Ninja'd]

I checked out some isotope charts for this element, it does not occur naturally on Earth and is extremely unstable. The most stable isotope only has a half-life of 20 seconds.

If that's the case it should've been called Somalium.