Always interesting, if you like words (and I do). Thanks. "Google", you say? Google isn't the source of my information, only the warehouse (so to speak). The first source I quoted was Mr Davy himself. But maybe you meant Wikipedia; a lot of people express varying amounts of derision when they hear Wikipedia mentioned.
--- Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313 /* The arguments against state-controlled churches apply with equal force to state-run schools. No free society allows the state to claim authority over the mind. -Joseph Sobran */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tony Thigpen Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 18:19 Personally, I prefer a more authoritative source than Google, but it is almost the same story: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/aluminum-vs-aluminium --- Bob Bridges wrote on 7/19/20 6:09 PM: > Because I know you were all breathlessly awaiting the verdict on the great > "aluminum"/"aluminium" controversy, I went to find more information. At > https://books.google.com/books?id=YjMwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA201 you can find a page > in _Elements of Chemical Philosophy_ by Humphrey Davy (who first isolated > aluminum), published in 1812; here he talks about "aluminum" (a metal to be > found in alumina, which in turn was processed from alum). Wikipedia > (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium) says this about the name: > > "British chemist Humphry Davy, who performed a number of experiments aimed to > isolate the metal, is credited as the person who named the element. In 1808, > he suggested the metal be named alumium in an article on his electrochemical > research which was published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal > Society. This suggestion was criticized by contemporary chemists from France, > Germany, and Sweden, who insisted the metal should be named for the oxide, > alumina, from which it would be isolated. In 1812, Davy published a chemistry > textbook in which he settled on the name aluminum, thus producing the modern > name. However, its spelling and pronunciation varies: aluminum is in use in > the United States and Canada while aluminium is in use elsewhere." > > That sounds plausible to me. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bob Bridges [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 17:34 > > Aha! Yet a third story; in this one Davy started out with "aluminum" and the > Europeans ~added~ the 'i'. > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Joe Monk > Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 07:22 > > The British Scientist (Davy) who discovered ALUMINUM named it that. It is > we Americans who are using the correct name ... the British press felt that > it should be in line with sodium and potassium and thus added to the > spelling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
