Group 12 element ancient times as well as in alloys such as brass that have been found to be over 2000 years old. Zinc was distinctly recognized as a metal under the designation of "Fasada" in the medical Lexicon ascribed to the Hindu king Madanapala (of Taka dynasty) and written about the year 1374. The metal was also of use to alchemists. The name of the metal was first documented in the 16th century, and is probably derived from the German for the needle-like appearance of metallic crystals. The isolation of metallic zinc in the West may have been achieved independently by several
Tube Alloys national leader to approve a nuclear weapons programme on 30 August 1941. The Chiefs of Staff Committee supported the decision. A directorate of Tube Alloys was established as part of Appleton's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and Wallace Akers, the research director of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), was chosen as its head. Anderson and Akers came up with the name Tube Alloys. It was deliberately chosen to be meaningless, "with a specious air of probability about it". An advisory committee known as the Tube Alloys Consultative Council was created to oversee its work, chaired by Anderson, with its other