Protactinium was first identified in 1913 by Kasimir Fajans and Oswald Helmuth Göhring at the University of Karlsruhe. The new element was named brevium due to the brief half-life of the isotope specific studied, Protactinium-234 (234 Pa).
Fajans and Göhring also worked to identify as many isotopes of the new element as possible, and also to publicize their discovery—a process that was hampered by the beginning of World War I.
In 1914, Göhring was conscripted into the army.  Presumably he perished during the war; he is listed as the author of no further scientific articles or publications after 1915.
A stable isotope of this element was discovered in 1918, and thus the name was changed to protoactinium, which was abbreviated in 1949 to its present name, protactinium.