The newest and 112th element discovered 13 years ago has been named after Nicolaus Copernicus in a gesture of honor to the 16th century astronomer by its discoverers.

Professor Sigurd Hofmann and his team of 21 scientists from Germany's Centre for Heavy Ion Research preferred to call their discovery copernicium to honor the outstanding Polish scientists who discovered that the Earth orbits the Sun and not the other way around as believed during his time.

The choice of copernicium is in accordance with established rules for naming chemicals set by the non-government scientific group International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The group disallows naming of chemicals after living scientists. Hofmann himself deems copernicum as better than hofmanium if the rules are disregarded.

The suggested name will still be subject to discussion by the scientific community.

Copernicium, symbolized as Cp in the periodic table of elements, is the heaviest of its kind being 277 times heavier than hydrogen. Its atom has 112 electrons circling the nucleus.

The element was discovered during a 1996 nuclear fusion experiment appearing in split seconds after zinc ions were bombarded onto a lead target. It can only be detected through extremely fast and sensitive analysis methods.