''Ausenium'' (

atomic symbol Chemical symbols are the abbreviations used in chemistry, mainly for chemical elements; but also for functional groups, chemical compounds, and other entities. Element symbols for chemical elements, also known as atomic symbols, normally consist ...

Ao) and ''Hesperium'' (atomic symbol Es) were the names initially assigned to the

transuranic elements The transuranium (or transuranic) elements are the chemical elements with atomic number greater than 92, which is the atomic number of uranium. All of them are radioactively unstable and decay into other elements. Except for neptunium and pluton ...

with

atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of its atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of pro ...

s 93 and 94, respectively. The discovery of the elements, now discredited, was made by

Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project ...

and a team of scientists at the University of Rome in 1934. Following the discovery of

nuclear fission Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radioactiv ...

in 1938, it was realized that "elements" found by Fermi were actually a mixture of

barium Barium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. Th ...

krypton Krypton (from 'the hidden one') is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless noble gas that occurs in trace element, trace amounts in the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere and is of ...

, and other elements. The actual elements were discovered several years later, and assigned the names ''

neptunium Neptunium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Np and atomic number 93. A radioactivity, radioactive actinide metal, neptunium is the first transuranic element. It is named after Neptune, the planet beyond Uranus in the Solar Syste ...

'' and ''

plutonium Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...

''. Already in 1934, Ida Noddack had presented alternative explanations for the experimental results of Fermi. The element 93, ausenium, was named after a Greek name of Italy, '' Ausonia''. The element 94, Hesperium, was named in Italian ''Esperio'' after ''Hesperia'', a poetic name of Italy. Fascist authorities wanted one of the elements to be named ''littorio'' after the Roman ''

lictor A lictor (possibly from Latin language, Latin ''ligare'', meaning 'to bind') was a Ancient Rome, Roman civil servant who was an attendant and bodyguard to a Roman magistrate, magistrate who held ''imperium''. Roman records describe lictors as hav ...

es'' who carried the ''

fasces A fasces ( ; ; a , from the Latin word , meaning 'bundle'; ) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, often but not always including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbol that had its origin in the Etrus ...

'', a symbol appropriated by Fascism.

See also

References

Further reading