Palladium Palladium Palladium is a chemical element with symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas. Palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form a group of elements referred to as the platinum group metals (PGMs). These have similar chemical properties, but palladium has the lowest melting point and is the least dense of them. More than half the supply of palladium
HMS Athene operated as a seaplane carrier in the South Atlantic over 1942/43. In 1946 the Navy returned her to Clan Line. She was reconverted for merchant service and served until 1963, when she was sold for scrap. She arrived in Hong Kong for breaking up on 19 July 1963. HMS Athene HMS "Athene" was a Royal Navy aircraft transport. She was a merchant conversion, requisitioned by the Navy during the Second World War and returned after its end. She is the only ship of the Royal Navy to be named after the Greek goddess Athene. She was broken up in 1963.