Chemical Element: hassium

(Modern Latin: chemical element; from a Latin word Hassias meaning “Hess”, the German state of Hessen; radioactive metal)

Chemical-Element Information

Symbol: Hs
Atomic number: 108
Year discovered: 1984

Discovered by: Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Münzenberg and co-workers


  • Discovered at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany.
  • Named for the German state of Hessen, where the major cities of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden (capital of Hessen), Kassel, and Darmstadt are located.
  • Hassium was formerly called unniloctium, symbol Uno, which in Latin represents the number “108”.

Name in other languages:

French: hassium

German: Hassium

Italian: hassio

Spanish: hassio


Information about other elements may be seen at this Chemical Elements List.

A special unit about words that include chemo-, chem- may be seen here.