To date, 118 chemical elements have been found. Professor Mario Markus, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany, takes a look at each element, presenting a poem based on its natural properties along with a scientific overview of each element.
All 118 poems – as well as some poems about elements that only exist in theoretical simulations – are published in the book Chemical Poems: One On Each Element by Mario Markus. ChemViews Magazine publishes a selection of these poems.
Pm |
Promethium |
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Silvery metal. Density: 7.26 g/cm³. It glows in the dark with a pale blue light. It was discovered in Tennessee in 1945 by Jacob Marinsky, Lawrence Glendenin and Charles Coryell. It is practically not found in nature, but is produced in particle accelerators or reactors. Grace Mary Coryell, the wife of one of the discoverers, had the idea for the name of this element: As a product of nuclear power, it is comparable with the delivery of fire to humanity by Prometheus, a Titan in Greek mythology.
[2] S. Ravi et al., J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 2001, 250, 565–568. |
The gods come and go |
Professor Mario Markus
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany.
www.mariomarkus.com
Chemical Poems – One On Each Element,
Mario Markus,
Dos Madres Press 2013.
ISBN: 978-1-933675-98-5
Perfectbound, 308 pages, English, $30
Interview with Mario Markus: , Poetry and Chemistry
ChemViews Magazine 2013.
DOI: 10.1002/chemv.201300010
The poems have also been published in German in:
See all poems published so far by ChemViews Magazine.
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