Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Ausenium and hesperium
open-in-new
<p><i>Ausenium</i> (<a href="/facts/Atomic_symbol/2Fe1VAL0">atomic symbol</a> Ao) and <i>Hesperium</i> (atomic symbol Es) were the names initially assigned to the <a href="/facts/Transuranic_elements/a12PwdAw">transuranic elements</a> with <a href="/facts/Atomic_number/bgAr581S">atomic numbers</a> 93 and 94, respectively. The discovery of the elements, now discredited, was made by <a href="/facts/Enrico_Fermi/cmYcY15H">Enrico Fermi</a> and a team of scientists at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Rome_La_Sapienza/VhwH9mIr">University of Rome</a> in 1934. </p><p>Following the discovery of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fission/LfkIylvm">nuclear fission</a> in 1938, it was realized that "elements" found by Fermi were actually a mixture of <a href="/facts/Barium/IkL09XHQ">barium</a>, <a href="/facts/Krypton/llkNlCke">krypton</a>, and other elements. The actual elements were discovered several years later, and assigned the names <i><a href="/facts/Neptunium/pwp7Yvds">neptunium</a></i> and <i><a href="/facts/Plutonium/4bUw9zH3">plutonium</a></i>. Already in 1934, <a href="/facts/Ida_Noddack/4Uve513s">Ida Noddack</a> had presented alternative explanations for the experimental results of Fermi. </p><p>The element 93, ausenium, was named after a Greek name of Italy, <i><a href="/facts/Ausonia_(disambiguation)/Crul0AIW">Ausonia</a></i>. The element 94, Hesperium, was named in Italian <i>Esperio</i> after <i>Hesperia</i>, a poetic name of Italy. </p><p>Fascist authorities wanted one of the elements to be named <i>littorio</i> after the Roman <i><a href="/facts/Lictor/b89JmSAH">lictores</a></i> who carried the <i><a href="/facts/Fasces/npxVYrHS">fasces</a></i>, a symbol appropriated by Fascism. </p>