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."

Well it's Christmas so here are a few Christmasy chemistry links:

• Christmas Science Jokes
• The Catalyst Links
• A Chemistry Christmas Carol

For those of you with access to Channel 4 in the UK, here is information about the RI Christmas Lectures

See here and here for details.

Broadcast times of Christmas Lectures (Channel 4 in the UK)

Lecture 1 'Blast off' on Sun 28th Dec at 13:55
Lecture 2 'Live from Mars' on Mon 29th Dec at 12:05
Lecture 3 'Planet patrol' on Tue 30th Dec at 12:05
Lecture 4 'Collision course' on Wed 31st Dec at 12:05
Lecture 5 'Anybody out there?' on Thurs 1st Jan at 12:05

If you have details of similar lectures elsewhere please add as a comment to this item.

The BBC has a good article about John Dalton on its site. In 1803 John Dalton demonstrated that atoms must exist - and so set chemistry to become a modern science. He formulated a way to denote chemical elements and their compounds. This enabled science to gain an understanding of the properties and interactions of different substances.

His standing in society of the time is astonishing. While still alive, a statue was erected in 1838 in Manchester in the UK by public subscription. It cost 2,000 guineas. For the time this was a vast amount of money. When he died, Manchester gave him a huge funeral. It is said that 40,000 people filed by his coffin.

John Dalton 1766-1844 (born Eaglesfield, Cumberland, England)

A joint IUPAC-IUPAP Working Party confirms the discovery of element number 110 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 darmstadtium with symbol Ds. This proposal lies within the long established tradition of naming an element after the place of its discovery.

Provisional Recommendations
Inorganic Chemistry Division
Recommendation for the Naming of Element of Atomic Number 110
Prepared for publication by J. Corish and G. M. Rosenblatt

See this link