Bohrium

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A synthetic chemical element with symbol Bh and atomic number 107, notable for being named after physicist Niels Bohr and first synthesized in 1981 ; any use of the term in artistic or cultural contexts
2. The artificially produced element with atomic number 107 and the symbol Bh, remarkable for having no stable isotopes and existing only momentarily ; references to this name outside scientific fields
3. An element represented by Bh, atomic number 107, distinguished by its creation in a lab via nuclear fusion with no known practical applications ; the use of this word in non-scientific or metaphorical language

Etymology: Bohrium is named for the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, whose model of the atom transformed early twentieth-century physics. The element was not discovered in nature but made in the laboratory: it has no stable form, and only a handful of atoms have ever been produced, each lasting a fraction of a second before decaying. The name follows the naming convention for the chemical elements, in which the suffix "-ium" marks a metallic element. Bohr's surname was combined with that ending to produce "Bohrium," the same pattern that gives us elements such as einsteinium and fermium, named for other physicists.