Elementymology & Elements Multidict

memory peg	Radioactive metal melting point (27) °C; (81) °F boiling point (677) °C; (1251) °F density -- g/cc; -- pounds/cubic foot
1939 Marguerite Perey, France
France

Element #87 was predicted in 1871 by Д.И. Менделеев (D.I. Mendeleyev) and described as an alkali metal. He gave it the provisional name Eka-Caesium (or Dvi-Rubidium) (note).

Before it actually was discovered, four alleged discoveries were done and just as many names were given (note):

• 1925: Russium. The chemist Д. Добросердов (D.K. Dobroserdov) from Odessa published a theoretical study in which he expressed interesting considerations about the value of atomic weight, the physical and chemical properties of element #87 and where and by what methods it should be searched for. He proposed already a name for it, after his native country (note1).
• 1926: Alkalinium. The English chemists Gerald J. F. Druce (1894-1950) and Frederick H. Loring reported that they observed the lines of Eka-Caesium in X-ray photographs of manganese sulfate. They announced the discovery of the heaviest alkaline earth they would name alkalinium.
• 1929: Virginium (Vi or Vm). Fred Allison and Edgar J. Murphy of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute reported the discovery of element #87 in lepidolite, a Lithium ore, and pollucite, a mineral containing Caesium. They named it after Allison's native state of Virginia.
• 1937: Moldavium. In 1936 the Rumanian chemist Horia Hulubei (1896-1972) and the French chemist Yvette Cauchois (1908-1999) reported weak lines which they assumed were a doublet of element 87. At the end of their report they announced the discovery of eka-c&#aelig;sium , and they suggested the name Moldavium for this element: "Pour cet élément 87 j'ai proposé le nom moldavium (Ml) en l'hommage à la Moldavie, province roumaine, marche avancée vers l'Est de la latinité" (note).

The final discovery was made in 1939 by Marguerite Perey (1909-1975) at Curie's Institute in Paris. Studying isotopes that emit alphas with a range in air greater than 3.5", Perey found that Actinium-227 produces a daughter which decays by beta emission with a half-life of 21 minutes. This new element had the solubility properties of an alkali. The element was first known as Actinium-K, following the naming system for natural radioactive sources. First Marguerite Perey proposed Catium after "cation", but Iràne and Frédérick Joliot-Curie sarcastically declared that the sound of this word would remind English speaking chemists of the word cat, instead of cation (note). In 1946 it was named Francium, with symbol Fa, by Perey for her native country. It was the second element named after France! (cf. Gallium). The name and symbol Fr were accepted by the International Union of Chemists (IUC) in 1949.

Initially it had the chemical symbol Fa, later it became Fr.

The name "France" comes from Latin Francia, which literally means "land of the Franks," or "Frankland". There are various theories as to the origin of the name of the Franks. One is that it is derived from the Proto-Germanic word frankon which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. Another proposed etymology is that in an ancient Germanic language, Frank means free as opposed to slave.

However, it is also possible that the word is derived from the ethnic name of the Franks, the connection being that only the Franks, as the conquering class, had the status of freemen. In German, France is still called Frankreich (Dutch: Frankrijk, which literally means "Realm of the Franks". In order to distinguish from the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne, Modern France is called Frankreich), while the Frankish Realm is called Frankenreich (Dutch: Frankenrijk) (note).

• Mary Elvira Weeks, "The Discovery of the Elements, XX: Recently Discovered Elements" Journal of Chemical Education 10 (1933), pp. 161-170. (Virginium pp. 167-168).
• Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, comp. rev. by Henry M. Leicester (Easton, Pa.: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968), pp. 838-839.
• Francium-News (on-line).
• Jean-Pierre Adloff and George B. Kauffman, "Francium (Atomic Number 87), the Last Discovered Natural Element". The Chemical Educator, Vol. 10, No. 5, Published on Web 09/23/2005 (on-line).