Protactinium was first discovered in 1913, when Kasimir Fajans and O. H. Göhring encountered short-lived isotope 234m-Pa, with a half-life of about 1.17 minutes, while they were studying the decay chain of 238-U. They gave the new element the name "Brevium" (Latin "brevis", brief, short); the name was changed to "Protoactinium" in 1918 when two groups of scientists (Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner of Germany and Frederick Soddy and John Cranston of the UK) independently discovered 231-Pa. The name was shortened to "Protactinium" in 1949.