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 pupil and assistant Fritz Strassmann (1902–1980), Otto Hahn furthered the research begun by Enrico Fermi and his team in 1934 when they bombarded uranium with neutrons. Until 1938, it was believed that the elements with atomic numbers greater than 92 (known as transuranium elements) arose when uranium atoms were bombarded with neutrons. The German chemist Ida Noddack proposed an exception. She anticipated the paradigm shift of 1938/39 in her article published in the journal "Angewandte Chemie", Nr. 47, 1934, in which she speculated: It is conceivable that when heavy nuclei are bombarded with neutrons these nuclei could break down into