Yes, but it’s an officially-acknowledged bastardisation, or amendment. To-may-to/To-mah-to.
“The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990.[110] In 1993, they recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant;[110] the most recent 2005 edition of the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry acknowledges this spelling as well.[111] IUPAC official publications use the -ium spelling as primary but list both where appropriate.[f]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Spelling
From Wikipedia, on aluminum’s spelling:
“The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: “Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium.”[73][74]
Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: “This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina.”[75] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy’s book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, “for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound.”[76]
The -ium suffix conformed to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802. The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide (as opposed to aluminia), as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.
The aluminum spelling is used in the Webster’s Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal in 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[64] he filed between 1886 and 1903. Hall’s domination of production of the metal ensured that aluminum became the standard English spelling in North America.”
Aluminum seems to have the prior claim, aluminium being caused by a nineteenth century anonymous (and erroneous) chemistry grammarian.
And yet, Charles M Hall’s patent with the US patent office No. 400,766 clearly states on the patent cover “the Process of Reducing Aluminium by Electrolysis” dated the second of April 1889. mmmkay.
Yes, I feel that’s covered by “constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[64] he filed between 1886 and 1903”. The article has since been edited to say that it’s not clear why he used one spelling in his patents and the other everywhere else, but he “preferred aluminum since its introduction because it resembled platinum, the name of a prestigious metal”.
I like the subtle distinction between humans and Americans.
Having been born in the US, I can agree that there is a distinct difference between the two. -_^
Aluminium.
Two eyes.
Funnily enough, Aluminum is the actual name given to it by the discoverer.
Aluminium is a bastardization since it overrules the discoverer’s right to name the discovery.
Is it? I’d thought it was the other way around.
Not that it makes much difference either way, since both are in common use.
That’s incorrect, the original name was Alumium, which became Aluminium in Europe, and Aluminum in the US
Yes, but it’s an officially-acknowledged bastardisation, or amendment. To-may-to/To-mah-to.
“The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990.[110] In 1993, they recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant;[110] the most recent 2005 edition of the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry acknowledges this spelling as well.[111] IUPAC official publications use the -ium spelling as primary but list both where appropriate.[f]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Spelling
The writers are American, so it’s Aluminum.
Only if you’re British.
Only if you’re anything but American.
Or Canadian, according to a quick bit of reseach, so it’s what Buddy would say.
Not Buddy, whoever.
From Wikipedia, on aluminum’s spelling:
“The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: “Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium.”[73][74]
Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: “This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina.”[75] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy’s book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, “for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound.”[76]
The -ium suffix conformed to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802. The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide (as opposed to aluminia), as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.
The aluminum spelling is used in the Webster’s Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal in 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[64] he filed between 1886 and 1903. Hall’s domination of production of the metal ensured that aluminum became the standard English spelling in North America.”
Aluminum seems to have the prior claim, aluminium being caused by a nineteenth century anonymous (and erroneous) chemistry grammarian.
And yet, Charles M Hall’s patent with the US patent office No. 400,766 clearly states on the patent cover “the Process of Reducing Aluminium by Electrolysis” dated the second of April 1889. mmmkay.
Yes, I feel that’s covered by “constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[64] he filed between 1886 and 1903”. The article has since been edited to say that it’s not clear why he used one spelling in his patents and the other everywhere else, but he “preferred aluminum since its introduction because it resembled platinum, the name of a prestigious metal”.