new elements that were added to the Periodic Table in late 2015, were officially named on the 28 Nov 2016. Scientists first synthesized the new elements between 2002 and 2010, but it wasn’t until December of 2015 that the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially recognized the discoveries. The elements are:

Nihonium (Nh), named by the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science in Japan. Nihon means Japan or literally “the Land of Rising Sun,” in Japanese. The element is the first discovered in and named after an Asian country.

Moscovium (Mc), chosen to honor the Russian region and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, where experiments were conducted.

Tennessine (Ts), which recognized the state for contributions from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University and University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Joe Hamilton and A. V. Ramayya (left & right), who found the new element Tennessine, seen autographing a periodic table of the elements for a co-worker at Vanderbilt University in June.

Oganesson (Og), which honored Yuri Oganessian for pioneering research on super-heavy elements.