Motorhead Fans Petition to Rename Periodic Element after Lemmy

Legendary Motorhead frontman Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister died on December 28 at his home in Los Angeles. Now, to further honor him, his fans are petitioning to name one of four newly discovered radioactive "super heavy" elements after him.

The Huffington Post and BBC report that the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry recently announced the discovery of the four new elements, one of which named Ununoctium 118.

Motorhead fans feel it is only fitting that particular element be renamed, Lemmium.

John Wright started the petition at Change.org, which has garnered over 47,000 signatures. The petition says

Lemmy was a force of nature and the very essence of heavy metal. We believe it is fitting that the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry recommend that one of the four new discovered Heavy Metals in the Periodic table is named Lemmium.

It is up to the scientists who discovered the elements to decide on the names, usually going with the name of minerals, the location they were discovered, a property, or famous scientist.

The four new elements were discovered by scientists hailing from the United States, Japan and Russia.