It’s time to update that classic Tom Lehrer tune, The Element Song, because the news has come out that three elements on the periodic table have new names. Science lovers also now have three new element abbreviations to learn.
Element 110 is now called Darmstadtium (Ds), named for the city of Darmstad, Germany.
Element 111 is now called Roentgenium (Rg) in honor or Wilhelm Rontgen (more on him in a moment)
Element 112 is now called Copernicium (Cn) in honor of Nichlaus Copernicus, the astronomer who first developed a model of the solar system with the Sun at the center.
While this news is fantastic as these new names replace the original working names of these elements (Ununnilium, Unununium, and Ununbium), this news, and especially the honoree of Element 111, reminded me a tale from my life many moons ago. I wrote about it in a ceditra entry that came up on September 5 of this year when my random process for coming with ideas to write about (abbreviation: RP; atomic weight: 336) directed me to page 944 of my dictionary where I saw….
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X ray
1. electromagnetic radiation of short wavelengths, able to pass through opaque bodies
I can tell you who discovered X rays, but I just can’t pronounce his name.
After my less-than-smashing success in the early 1990s for trying out for Jeopardy! (in other words, I failed three times out of three), I stuck to the cliché and did not give up, but tried, tried again. However, by about 1995, the universe of game shows on AM network television had dwindled courtesy of the rise of the celebrity talk show (e.g., Ricki Lake, Montel Williams, Jerry Springer, etc.). The one sanctuary for question-and-answer shows was cable television so that’s where I went to try my luck again.
That is how I wound up on Win Ben Stein’s Money broadcast on Comedy Central.
The conceit of this show was unique where the producers of the show actually gave the host a pile of money and it was from that pot that a contestant won from. In the second and third rounds, the contestant(s) actually competed against the economist/actor.
On the show I was on, I actually made it past the first round and was competing against the other contestant (who had done better than me in the first round) and Ben Stein.
It was close between me and other contestant when the question popped up as to who discovered X rays. I knew it was Wilhelm Rontgen, but after I buzzed in, I pronounced his name with an extra syllable (hey, I don’t know German that well or how umlauts are pronounced). The producers stopped the tape as they replayed my answer and I also took this time to explain my answer (I knew how to spell his name). In the end, my appeal was denied, and I lost the second round and was off the show.
Thus ended my game show experience. As the consolation prize, I did win a portable CD player…which I gave to a friend of mine.
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Probably best I didn’t win on that game show. All that “fame” would have gone to my head and I hear you have to pay taxes on all the prizes you win anyway.
End Note: If you want to win a bar bet, mention that Jimmy Kimmel (he of Jimmy Kimmel Live!) made his television debut as Ben Stein’s sidekick on Win Ben Stein’s Money.
Form Your Troika 