There are 118 chemical elements on the periodic table. Just 18 of these elements are named after genuine historical figures. These historical figures were not only scientists and mathematicians but also philosophers, writers, businessmen, prestigious landowners, and engineers.Although there are 18 elements named after real people, 19 people give their names to these elements. This is because one particular elementwhich we will discover more about lateris named after two scientists jointly. These people were chosen for a variety of reasons but shockingly, and despite common misconception, not a single chemical element is named after the scientist who discovered it.1. Ernest Rutherford (Rutherfordium)Photograph of Ernest Rutherford, c. 1920s. Source: Library of CongressErnest Rutherford was one of the exceptional scientists of his era. Not only is he now remembered as the father of nuclear physics, but he is also known as the greatest experimentalist since Michael Faraday. Even more impressively, in the year of 1908, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his investigation into the disintegration of elements. All things considered, there is little wonder why Rutherford was granted the honor of having a chemical element named after him. Nor is it any surprise that Rutherfordium is the element in question.One may naturally ask, what exactly is Rutherfordium? Rutherfordium is a synthetic chemical element, one of many of its type on the Periodic Table. This means that it does not occur naturally on earth, but must be created through human manipulation. Synthetic elements, otherwise known as artificial or manmade elements, are those with atomic numbers between 95 and 118.Rutherfordium has the atomic number 104, and its symbol is Rf. It is also radioactive.Contrary to popular belief, Rutherfordium was not actually discovered by Ernest Rutherford. There is no record of its existence until nearly three decades after his death. Rutherfordium was first encountered by Georgy Flerov, during the year of 1964, during an experiment at the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Geory Flerov could also be included in this list, as Flerovium now bears his name.Photograph of Igor Kurchatov. Source: Atomic Energy ArchiveDuring the decades after its discovery, various alternative names were suggested for the new and exciting element that would become Rutherfordium. The JINR put forth Kurchatovium (Ku), to honor Igor Kurchatov, the former head of Soviet Nuclear Research.America, whose scientists had also stumbled upon the same element, suggested Rutherfordium. There was much debate between the two countries over which name should be officially recognized before it was ruled by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry that Rutherfordium should be accepted.After his death in October of 1937, Ernest Rutherford was buried in Westminster Abbey. His body now lies beside the likes of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. He is still particularly popular in Britain, partly due to his time spent studying at Cambridge University, and partly due to his Scottish and English heritage.2. Nicolaus Copernicus (Copernicium)Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus, 1580. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOf all the historic figures with chemical elements named after them, Nicolaus Copernicus was one of only two to have lived during the 15th century. The other is Amerigo Vespucci, after whom Americium is debatably named. Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, the same year as many other historic figures such as Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk, and King James IV of Scotland.Nicolaus Copernicus is now best remembered as a Polish polymath, mathematician, and astronomer. Most notably, he was the first European scientist to put forth the theory that the Earth and other planets in the Solar System revolve around the Sun.Predictably, the element named after Nicolaus Copernicus is Copernicium. It was first created during 1996 in Germany, at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research near Darmstadt. 13 years later, in 2009, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry proposed for it a name and a symbol. Copernicium, otherwise known as Cp, was chosen to honor an outstanding scientist who changed our view of the world.3. Dmitri Mendeleev (Mendelevium)Photograph of Dmitri Mendeleev. Source: Wikimedia CommonsDmitri Mendeleev. This name is not only familiar to scientists and historians, but also to people of all ages, nationalities, and professions. We all learned about him in our chemistry lessons at school.Debatably, Mendeleev is the most important figure on this list, for it was he who devised the Periodic Table of chemical elements in the first place. It would be wrong to put together a list of historic figures with chemical elements named after them without including the creator of the Periodic Table himself.Dmitri Mendeleev lived between 1834 and 1907. By the time he had begun work on what would become the Periodic Table, there were 56 known elements to be included. New elements were being discovered at the rate of approximately one per year. It was on March 6, 1869, that Mendeleev officially shared his creation for the first time. He formally presented his Periodic Table to the Russian Chemical Society; his lecture was entitled The Dependence Between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements.In 1955, the element that would soon become known as Mendelevium was discovered by American chemists Albert Ghiorso, Bernard G. Harvey, Gregory R Choppin, Stanley G Thompson, and Glenn T. Seaborg.Photograph of Glenn T. Seaborg, c. 1964. Source: NARAGlenn T. Seaborg explained the reason behind the choice of name. We thought it fitting that there be an element named for the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who had developed the periodic table. He confessed that Mendeleev had helped the discovery of the element, in nearly all our experiments discovering transuranium elements, wed depended on his method of predicting chemical properties based on the elements position in the table. Some years later, in 1974, Glenn T. Seaborg was chosen as the namesake of element 106, Seaborgium.Mendelevium is a synthetic, radioactive element. Its symbol is Md; its atomic number is 101. Dmitri Mendeleev is now remembered as the father of the Periodic Table.4. Albert Einstein (Einsteinium)Photograph of Albert Einstein, by Arthur Sasse, 1951. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOf all the historic figures with chemical elements named after them, Albert Einstein is undoubtedly the most famous. Einstein is now remembered as one of the most influential scientists of all time. He is one of very few figures to be considered, pretty much worldwide, as a genius.Albert Einstein lived between the years of 1879 and 1955. Most notably, he won the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of photoelectric effect. His most famous work, however, is his development of the theory of relativity, which he published in 1905. Which of us can say we are not familiar with the phrase, E = MC2? Even if we are not sure about its meaning?It was in 1952, three years before Einsteins death, that element number 99 was first recorded. The discovery was made by a group of scientists headed by Albert Ghiorso at the University of California, Berkeley.The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAfter considering many options, the name Einsteinium was chosen by the team to honor Albert Einstein. Other possibilities were Fermium (in honor of Enrico Fermi), and Pandamonium (to honor the team that had operated under the acronym PANDA).According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, Einsteinium has no uses other than scientific research. Its chemical symbol is Es.5. George Berkeley (Berkelium)Portrait of George Berkeley, by John Smibert, c. 1727. Source: SmithsonianThere are three things that make George Berkeley different from the other historical figures we have reviewed so far. Firstly, he was not a scientist but a philosopher. Secondly, he lived during the 17th and 18th centuries in Ireland. And finally, George Berkeleys chemical element was not named after him directly, but by default. Nonetheless, he still appears among the other figures 19 who have elements named after them.George Berkeley is now best remembered for being an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he referred to as immaterialism. The theory questions the existence of material substance and suggests that familiar objects are perceived by the mind, and cannot actually exist without being perceived within a human thought. Berkeley also served as Bishop of Cloyne between 1734 and 1753.Had he been alive to see it, having a chemical element named after him would have come as something of a surprise to him. Berkelium was not named after George Berkeley himself, but after the University of California Berkeley, where the element was discovered.Campus of the UC Berkeley in Berkeley, California, United States, photo by Charlie Nguyen. Source: FlickrBoth the city and the university stand on the Eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in California. However, since both the city and the university were named after the philosopher George Berkeley, the chemical element is also considered to have technically been named after him.So, why were a city and university in America named after an Irish, 17th-18th century philosopher? Well, on May 24, 1866, the trustees of the College of California held a meeting on the site that would soon become the campus. As the group stood looking out into the distance, trustee Frederick Billings brought to mind a poem written in 1726 by George Berkeley, entitled Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America.83 years later, in December of 1949, Berkelium was discovered at the same university. So, first came the philosopher, then came the Californian university, then came the city, then came the element.Berkelium is another of the synthetic elements; it has the chemical symbol Bk and the atomic number 97.6. Niels Bohr (Bohrium)Photograph of Niels Bohr, 1922. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBohrium is another of the synthetic elements. It has the chemical symbol Bh and the atomic number 107. Like many of the elements on this list, it has no uses other than scientific research.Two groups of scientists claim to have discovered Bohrium. The first reported discovery was made in 1976, by a Soviet research team led by Yuri Oganessian. The second reported discovery was made in 1981 in Darmstadt, Germany. The latter is now generally accepted to have been the definitive discovery.Of course, like all chemical elements, element number 107 required a name. Two names were considered, and both honored the Danish physicist Niels Bohr.The first name suggested for the element was Nielsbohrium, but the name was later changed to Bohrium by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.Niels Bohr lived between the years of 1885 and 1962. He is now best remembered for his contributions to the understanding of atomic structure. Niels Bohr also received a Nobel Prize in physics for his work on quantum theory.7. Amerigo Vespucci (Americium)Amerigo Vespucci finding the Southern Cross, c. 1600. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAmerigo Vespucci is another historical figure who only shares only a loose connection to the chemical element that bears his name. Just like George Berkeley and Berkelium, Americium is indirectly named after Amerigo Vespucci. The country of America was named after Amerigo, and the element was named after the country.So, first came Amerigo the explorer. Then came America the country. Last came Americium the element.The naming of America the country occurred shortly after Christopher Columbuss first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is generally accepted that the name of America derives from the name of Amerigo Vespucci, in honor of his exploration of the new continents on behalf of Spain and Portugal.Of all the historic figures with chemical elements named after them, it is Amerigo Vespucci who lived the longest time ago. He was born in 1443 in the Republic of Florence and now, just over 500 years after his death, he is best remembered for being an exceptional explorer and navigator.Americium was first produced in 1944 by Glenn T. Seborga name which should be familiar to us by nowat the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago, as part of the Manhattan project. Americium is a highly radioactive element, and must only be handled in an assigned lab under special regulations.8. Alfred Nobel (Nobelium)Photograph of Alfred Nobel, before 1896. Source: Dictionary of Swedish BiographyAll lovers of science and history are familiar with the work of Alfred Nobel. Partly thanks to the various things that bear his name, he is now remembered as one of the best known scientists in the world. Nobel has been described not only as an inventor, chemist, and engineer but also as a skilled entrepreneur and businessman. He lived between the years of 1833 and 1896, and during this time, held 355 patents for new inventions.Among these were patents for gunpowder, artificial rubber, artificial silk, gas meters, and apparatus for measuring water. Despite his hundreds of patents, he remains best known for making dynamite.The Encyclopaedia Britannica sums up the life and works of Alfred Nobel in one short entry. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist who invented dynamite and other more powerful explosives, more importantly, and perhaps more famously, it states, he also founded the Nobel Prize.The Nobel Prize is one of the most coveted and prestigious awards it is possible to claim. They were first given out in the year of 1901. As instructed by Alfred Nobel himself, the awards were separated into five categories: physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. A sixth prize for economic sciences was added in 1969.In 1957, 61 years after Alfred Nobels death, a new chemical element was discovered by a research team in Stockholm. The elementoriginally known simply as element 112was later named Nobelium to honor the life and achievements of Alfred Nobel.9. Maire and Pierre Curie (Curium)Photograph of Marie and Pierre Curie, 1895. Source: Wikimedia CommonsCurium is unique because it is the only chemical element to be named after two people. It is also the only chemical element to be named afterat least in parta woman. Yes, Curium is named after both Marie and Pierre Curie, the married couple known equally for their exceptional study of radioactivity.Pierre Curie is best remembered as a French physicist, and a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, and radioactivity. He jointly shared a Nobel Prize in physics with Marie in 1903.Debatably, Marie Curie is the better known of the partnership. Certainly, it is she who is best remembered for her incredible achievements. She was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She remains the only person ever to have won a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Most astonishingly of all, it was Marie Curie who discovered chemical element number 84. It was named Polonium, after Poland, to honor her home country. After her death in November 1934, she became the first woman to be entombed in the Paris Pantheon on her own merits.Photograph of Irene Joliot-Curie, 1921. Source: Wikimedia CommonsCurium itself was discovered in the year of 1944. The discovery was made by a team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which included many familiar names such as Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James and Albert Ghiorso. Curium has the symbol Cm and the atomic number 96.Irene Juliot-Curie, the daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie, continued the family legacy by earning her own Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1935.10. Yuri Oganessian (Oganesson)Photograph of Yuri Oganessian, 2016. Source: Wikimedia CommonsYuri Oganessianhe is by no means the best-known figure on this list. He is not a household name, in the same way as Afred Nobel or Albert Einstein. However, he is unique in many ways. For example, of all the historical figures with chemical elements named after them, he is the only one still living today (aged 91 at the time of writing).Furthermore, Yuri Oganessian is one of only two people to have had a chemical element named after him during his lifetime, and to have been aware of the final decision. The other was Glenn T. Seaborgelement 106 was given the name Seaborgium before his death.It was said by Gregory Flyorov that Yuri Oganessian was a remarkable physicist and experimentalist, whose work is characterised by originality, and who possessed an ability to approach a problem from an unexpected side, and to achieve an ultimate result.Oganessian was born in April 1933. He is best known for his research on superheavy chemical elements, so much so that he has been dubbed the grandfather of superheavy elements. Fittingly, the element that bears his nameOganessonis the heaviest element on the Periodic Table.Oganesson is the newest of the chemical elements. It was announced in November of 2016 that it would be named Oganesson, to honor Yuri Oganessian. The decision was made by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Oganesson has the atomic number 118 and the atomic symbol Og.Other Historic Figures With Chemical Elements Named After ThemTantalus, by Gioacchino Assereto, 1640s. Source: Wikimedia CommonsIn this article, we have reviewed just some of the historic figures with chemical elements named after them. The other eightwhich have been omitted from this particular list at random are included below.They are Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets (Samarium), Enrico Fermi (Fermium), Ernest Lawrence (Lawrencium), Johan Gadolinium (Johan Gadolin), Glenn T. Seaborg (Seaborgium), Lise Meitner (Meitnerium), Wilhelm Rontgen (Roentgenium), Gregory Flyorov (Flerovium), and Robert Livermore (Livermorium).This is to say nothing of the chemical elements named after mythological figures, for example Promethium (Prometheus) and Tantalus (Tantalum).