A research group led by Professor Kosuke Morita, a professor at the Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyushu University and a group director at the RIKEN Nishina Center, succeeded in synthesizing for the first time in 2004 using a heavy ion linear accelerator. A public review has begun to solicit opinions from the general public regarding the proposed element name "nihonium" (draft element symbol "Nh"). After soliciting opinions for five months, the official element name and element symbol name will be decided.The new element will be named for the first time in Asia.
At the end of 2015, Japan acquired the naming right, and RIKEN decided on the name proposal "nihonium" and the element symbol proposal "Nh", and proposed it to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in March 2016.With the proposal of the name and element symbol posted on the website of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the Japanese name "Nihonium" is being proposed to the Chemical Society of Japan Nomenclature Expert Committee.
In the history of element discovery, no country other than Europe and the United States has succeeded in discovering it.If the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry makes the final decision, the element names originating in Japan will be listed in the periodic table.
Director Morita said, "I would be grateful if even one person would be interested in science with the discovery of this element." Hiroshi Matsumoto, President of RIKEN, said, "In the future, research on the artificial synthesis of element 1 will develop and it is unknown. I hope that superheavy elements will have a long life. "
