As most of you know, I do love reading Terry Pratchett, hence the orange furry fella as my avatar, and occasional Pratchett references in my writing. Last year Sir Terry sadly passed from this world, but there are many wonderful celebrations of his life including not just his stories, but a housing estate in Wincanton in Somerset (I'd pay good money to live in Peach Pie St or Treacle Mine Road), kids and pets named after his characters, a shop in Wincanton that sells nothing but Pratchett gear, and various other wonderful bits of oddity of which I'm sure Sir Terry would heartily approve of.
But, my favourite nod to him so far to was pointed out to me yesterday by Rollienelson in the form of a petition to name new element 117, Octarine. According to dicsworld.wikia.com the definition of Octarine is as follows :
Octarine, also known as the Colour of Magic or the King Colour, was the eighth colour of the Discworld spectrum. It was visible only to wizards and cats. It is generally described as a sort of greenish-yellow purple colour.
The presence of octarine generally signifies the presence of magical energy, such examples are the Rimbow, where a spell of significant level wizardry is taking place and Unseen University.
The proposed chemical of element 117 would be Oc (pronounced 'ook').
I love scientists =]
If you want to sign the petition, as I already have, the address is below and I'll put it in the story comments too.
Great find Rollie, thank you for pointing it out to me.
~
https://www.change.org/p/iupac-joint-institute-for-nuclear-research-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory-name-new-element-117-octarine-in-honour-of-terry-pratchett-s-discworld - also available via External Link
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