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
Chalcogen was associated with metals and metal-bearing rock in general; copper, and its alloy bronze, was one of the first metals to be used by humans. Oxygen's name comes from the Greek words "oxy genes", meaning "acid-forming". Sulfur's name comes from either the Latin word "sulfurium" or the Sanskrit word "sulvere"; both of those terms are ancient words for sulfur. Selenium is named after the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene, to match the previously-discovered element tellurium, whose name comes from the Latin word "telus", meaning earth. Polonium is named after Marie Curie's country of birth, Poland. Livermorium is named for