THE newest and heaviest addition to the periodic table , who discovered that the Earth orbits the sun.
The (IUPAC) officially recognised the element in June. A team led by Sigurd Hofmann at the , Germany, which made the first atom of the element, chose the name “copernicium”.
Copernicus, the “father of the planetary system”, is an apposite choice, says Hofmann, because there are already three elements – uranium, neptunium and plutonium – named after planets.
IUPAC has yet to officially…
