Via The Great Beyond:
On Monday UK newspaper the Guardian, known to many as the Grauniad due to its penchant for mistakes, ran the following correction:
We misspelled a number of elements in the periodic table printed in part VI of the Science Course supplement distributed with the paper on May 1. We meant Iron (not Irone); Praseodymium (not Praseodynium); Neodymium (not Neodynium); Neptunium (not Neptuniam); Americium (not Americum); Seaborgium (not Seoborgium); and Darmstadtium (not Darmstadium).
The Great Beyond goes on to present the first ever Neodymium mis-spelling league. Nature does not do too well, but at least it has never mis-spelled (or mis-spoke) "iron" as "irone".
Nature 148, 114-114 (26 July 1941). Abstract:
THE formulation of Irene as 1: 1: 2: 6-tetra-methyltetralin has recently been established synthetically by Bogert and Apfelbaum. On the basis of this formulation of irene and the production of ββγ-trimethyl pimelic acid by ozonization of irone, structural formulæ have been postulated for this ketone by Ruzicka and his co-workers. Two of the postulated structures contain the chromophoric system C = C – C = C – C = O which should therefore give rise to a characteristic absorption spectrum.
Who said science used to be simple and has only become complex since 1953, and publication of the double-helix structure of DNA?
You made that one up !
* But Darmstadium is nice. It would mean bowel's stadium or bowel's stage.
Posted by: krimileser | 14 May 2008 at 21:37
Wasn't "The Formulation of Irene" a mildly scandalous airport paperback circa 1971?
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 15 May 2008 at 08:02
Krimileser, I promise it is not made up and that "irone" as used here by Nature in 1941 (not by the Guardian in 2008!) is real. From Wikipedia:
Irones are a group of methylionone odorants used in perfumery, derived from iris oil, e.g. orris root. The most commercially important of these are:
(-)-cis-γ-irone, and
(-)-cis-α-irone
Irones form through slow oxidation of triterpenoids in dried rhizomes of the iris species, Iris pallida. Irones typically have a sweet floral, iris, woody, ionone, odor.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irone"
Peter, I think your definition of airport reading is a bit more erudite than mine;-)
Posted by: Maxine | 15 May 2008 at 20:21
Thanks for removing one of my comments - your system always asks me twice for the verification, next time I will ignore the second one.
Sorry I didn't make myself clear. I wondered about the periodic table of the Guardian, in fact it is hilarious. It seems as if the person who put it together has no great scientific background, no technical background (Neody(mium) magnets are very popular nowadays), no great amount of language skills (the person couldn't work out the principles that govern the naming of elements - "Neptuniam"), and don't know how to check facts.
Posted by: krimileser | 16 May 2008 at 10:45
Ok, Krimileser, I get it, sorry!
Yes it is very annoying about the commenting system asking you for info twice, it happens to other readers, and me sometimes, too. Typepad are bringing out a new platform soon (this blog is currently beta-testing it) so I hope it will get better, but not if the beta-testing reflects the new set-up.
Posted by: Maxine | 16 May 2008 at 15:07