Darmstadtium team proposed the name "becquerelium" after Henri Becquerel. The American team in 1997 proposed the name "hahnium" after Otto Hahn (previously this name had been used for element 105). The name "darmstadtium" (Ds) was suggested by the GSI team in honor of the city of Darmstadt, where the element was discovered. The GSI team originally also considered naming the element "wixhausium", after the suburb of Darmstadt known as Wixhausen where the element was discovered, but eventually decided on "darmstadtium". The new name was officially recommended by IUPAC on August 16, 2003. Darmstadtium has no stable or naturally occurring isotopes. Several
Otto Hahn by Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson in 1940. On 13 July 1938, with the help and support of Hahn, Meitner – born into a Jewish family – escaped to the Netherlands; before she left, Hahn gave her a diamond ring he had inherited from his mother, to be used to bribe the frontier guards if required. Meitner emigrated to Stockholm, and Hahn continued to work with Strassmann. In late 1938 they found evidence of isotopes of an alkaline earth metal in their sample. The metal was detected by the use of an organic barium salt constructed by Wilhelm Traube.