The names of these three chemical elements have been inspired by mythology  

You are all aware of the periodic table, right? Mendeleev was the Russian chemist and inventor who created the periodic table. As the name suggests, the periodic table refers to a list of chemical elements arranged row-wise in order of their atomic numbers (number of a chemical element in the periodic table). But did you know that there are 11 elements in Mendeleev’s Periodic Table that derive their names from either famous cities and scientists or even popular gods and mythological characters? Let’s learn about a few of these. 

Promethium 
Ever heard of Promethium? Well, it’s a chemical element with an unusual name, inspired by a mythological character, Prometheus. Wait, why will a chemical element be named after a Greek god of fire? Come, let’s find out. 

During World War II, American chemist Charles Coryell and his deputies Larry Glendenin and Jacob Marinsky, sought to identify elements created during the nuclear fission of uranium. This was part of the Manhattan Project that was conducted as a research and development mission and went on to produce the first nuclear weapons. One of the elements produced during the fission of uranium turned out to be Element 61, a previously unknown, rare metal, thought to exist between Neodymium and Samarium in the periodic table. This was what was named as Promethium. 

It was actually Coryell's wife, Grace Mary, who proposed that the radioactive element be named after Prometheus. According to folklore, he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. But why this reference to Greek mythology? Well, since the element was forged out of one of the most powerful ‘fires’ ever created (nuclear fission), it was named after the Greek god who stole fire!  

Also, the theft of fire by Prometheus was not left unpunished. Zeus, the Greek God, had Prometheus chained to a mountain, where an eagle would come every day and peck out his regenerated liver. This punishment is corresponding to the dangers of being punished by the World War II. 

Titanium 
This story is equally fascinating. In 1791, William Gregor, an English chemist and mineralogist, for the first time, found titanium, a naturally occurring mineral, in corundum (a crystalline form of aluminium oxide) from Tibet, and in a tourmaline (a colourful mineral and gemstone) from a menaccanite (a black or steel-grey mineral consisting chiefly of the oxides of iron and titanium) mineral.  

However, titanium didn’t get its name until four years later when German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth discovered the same metal in a different mineral. Initially, he named it Rutile. Later on, he named it ‘Titanium’ after Titan, the Greek god of strength and power. Well, Titanium was so named as it was resistant to corrosion and had immense tensile strength, especially given its low density. 

Cobalt 
Well, not just Greeks, the Germans too helped inspire names of some elements such as Cobalt. It is believed that Cobalt was termed after ‘kobolds’ — spirits or goblins — that were thought to haunt mines or help around the house, as per German folklore. You might already know that Cobalt frequently forms chemical compounds with arsenic (another element). But how did this inference come about? Well, when German miners attempted to extract an unidentified metal from its ore—a difficult task in the first place—poisonous arsenic oxide was frequently present therein. They allegedly blamed ‘kobolds’ for the problems and began calling the annoying material ‘kobold.’ However, by the time Swedish chemist, Georg Brandt successfully isolated the element in the 1730s, the name had already been spelled in various ways in other languages—including Cobalt in English! So, he just chose to go along with it!