Elementymology & Elements Multidict

memory peg	Artificial radioactive element melting point -- °C; -- °F boiling point -- °C; -- °F density -- g/cc; -- pounds/cubic foot
2006 (2002) Ю.Ц. Оганесян (Yu.Ts. Oganessian) and co-workers, Dubna, Russia. The name was adopted by IUPAC on 8 June 2016.
Ю.Ц. Оганесян (Yu.Ts. Oganessian) Until 2016: ununoctium = 1-1-8-ium (IUPAC systematic element name)

First prepared in 2002 by Юрий Цолакович Оганесян (Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian), V.K. Utyonkov, Yu.V. Lobanov, F.Sh. Abdullin, A.N. Polyakov, I.V. Shirokovsky, Yu.S. Tsyganov, A.N. Mezentsev, S. Iliev, V.G. Subbotin, A.M. Sukhov, O.V. Ivanov, A.A. Voinov, K. Subotic, V.I. Zagrebaev, М.Г. Иткис (M.G. Itkis) (ОИЯИ / JINR), K.J. Moody, J.F. Wild, M.A. Stoyer, N.J. Stoyer, C.A. Laue, D.A. Shaughnessy, J.B. Patin, and R.W. Lougheed (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California) at the Лаборатория ядерных реакций им. Г.Н. Флерова / Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, FLNR - ОИЯИ / JINR, Дубна (Dubna), Russia.

The element does not have a name yet, therefore the systematic IUPAC name is used.

At the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, physicists (including collaborators from Lawrence Livermore National Lab in the United States) have sent a beam of calcium-48 ions into a target of californium-249 atoms to create temporarily a handful of atoms representing element 118. The nucleus for these atoms have a total atomic mass of 294 units.
In fact, only three of these atoms, the heaviest ever produced in a controlled experiment, were observed. After sending 2 x 10¹⁹ calcium projectiles into the target, one atom of element 118 was discovered in the year 2002 and two more atoms in 2005. The researchers held up publication after seeing their first specimen in order to find more events. According to Livermore physicist Ken Moody, speaking at a press conference today from Livermore, the three events have been well studied and the odds of a statistical fluke at work here are less than a part in 100 thousand.
In searching through 10¹⁹ collision events, how do you know you have found a new element? Because of the clear and unique decay sequence involving the offloading of alpha particles, nuclear parcels consisting of two protons and two neutrons. In this case, nuclei of element 118 decay to become element 116 (hereby itself discovered for the first time), and then element 114, and then element 112 by emitting detectable alphas. The 112 nucleus subsequently fissions into roughly equal-sized daughter particles.
The average lifetime observed for the three examples of element 118 was about one millisecond, not long enough to perform any kind of chemical tests (you'd need an hour's time for that). Element 118 lies just beneath radon in the periodic table and is therefore a kind of noble gas. (from Physics news update).

Naming

Before the retraction in 2002, the researchers from Berkeley had intended to name the element ghiorsium (Gh), after Albert Ghiorso (a leading member of the research team). The Russian discoverers reported their synthesis in 2006. In 2007, the head of the Russian institute stated the team were considering two names for the new element: Flyorium in honor of Georgy Flyorov, the founder of the research laboratory in Dubna; and moskovium, in recognition of the Moskovskaya Oblast where Dubna is located. He also stated that although the element was discovered as an American collaboration, who provided the californium target, the element should rightly be named in honor of Russia since the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR was the only facility in the world which could achieve this result.
Another suggestion is Dubnadium (Dn)

The element has got the preliminary systematic IUPAC name Ununoctium.

The name Oganesson (Og) was disclosed in 2016 for public review.

For the element with atomic number 118 the collaborating teams of discoverers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna (Russia) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (USA) proposed the name oganesson and symbol Og. The proposal is in line with the tradition of honoring a scientist and recognizes Professor Yuri Oganessian (born 1933) for his pioneering contributions to transactinoid elements research. His many achievements include the discovery of superheavy elements and significant advances in the nuclear physics of superheavy nuclei including experimental evidence for the "island of stability".

Further reading (information)

• Yu.Ts. Oganessian et al., "Results from the first ²⁴⁹Cf + ⁴⁸Ca Experiment (Russian text), English abstract.
• Yu.Ts. Oganessian et al., "Synthesis of the isotopes of elements 118 and 116 in the ²⁴⁹Cf and ²⁴⁵Cm+⁴⁸Ca fusion reactions. Physical Review C 74, 044602 (October 2006). Abstract.
• Livermore scientists team with Russia to discover element 118. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. News Release, NR-06-10-03
• Controversy-Plagued Element 118, the Heaviest Atom Yet, Finally Discovered Physicsbuz, 13 Oct. 2006 (with many naming suggestions)
• Phil Schewe and Ben Stein, Elements 116 and 118 Are Discovered, Physics News Update, Number 797 #1, October 16, 2006
• IUPAC, IUPAC is naming the four new elements nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson.

• Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, Recommendations for the Naming of Elements of Atomic Numbers Greater than 100 (Rules Approved 1978). (on-line)
• Elementary, my dear IUPAC: Naming the rarest of atoms by Michael Quinion.