Monthly Archives: October 2014

William Lassell — October 5 is Dirk Coster’s birthday. Coster was a Dutch physicist who, together with George Charles von Hevesy discovered the element hafnium. For many years, element 72 was a missing spot in the periodic table. Mendeleev left the spot open below the elements titanium and zirconium, believing the unknown element […]

Today In Science History – October 5 – Dirk Coster ...

This entry was posted on October 5, 2014 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on September 6, 2025)

Mole Day Mascot — October is a busy month for chemists. This year, October in Chemistry has the Nobel Prize, National Chemistry Week and Mole Day! Nobel Prize – October 6 The Nobel Prizes are typically announced at the beginning of the month of October. This year, the Prizes will be announced October 6 […]

October 2014 In Chemistry

This entry was posted on October 4, 2014 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on October 11, 2025)

Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg — On October 4, 1971, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, CGPM) officially added the mole as a base quantity of the SI units of measure. According to Resolution 3 of the 14th meeting of the CGPM, a mole is the amount of a […]

Today In Science History – October 4 – Mole Becomes ...

This entry was posted on October 4, 2014 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on October 11, 2025)

Operation Hurricane Detonation — October 3 is James Francis “Frank” Pantridge’s birthday. Pantridge was the Irish cardiologist who invented the portable defibrillator. By 1965, cardiac disease had become one of the most common causes of death and considered by many health care professionals to be an epidemic. A great many of these deaths were due […]

Today In Science History – October 3 – Frank Pantridge ...

This entry was posted on October 3, 2014 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on October 3, 2018)

Have you ever wondered if the names of elements are the same in other languages? Different languages have different words for the same thing, why should the elements be any different? This table is a list of the elements in English and German arranged by atomic number. If you’d like […]

Element List in German

This entry was posted on October 2, 2014 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on March 3, 2022)

October 2 is Sir William Ramsay’s birthday. Ramsay was a Scottish chemist who was responsible for discovering the elements that make up most of the right-hand edge of the periodic table–the noble gases. Ramsay collaborated with Lord Rayleigh who had noticed a difference in density between nitrogen obtained from the air […]

Today In Science History – October 2 – William Ramsay ...

This entry was posted on October 2, 2014 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on April 28, 2026)

20 Questions Chemistry Quiz

This entry was posted on October 1, 2014 by Anne Helmenstine (updated on May 17, 2021)