this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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edit: many, not most

Based on a few quick searches, here's what I came up with. You can tell that I got pretty bored once I got to the Lanthanide series and beyond. The ones without ":" are the ones I didn't check, as I doubt there's any software called "Dysprosium" and "Roentgenium", but I would love to be proven wrong!

One thing of note, I included a few racehorses are named after elements (most of which from the 1800s, which is interesting)

1 - H - Hydrogen: open-source drum machine

2 - He - Helium: Chromium-based browser, "Helium10" is e-commerce software

3 - Li - Lithium: "Li3", formerly "lithium", is a PHP web framework, optimization mod for Minecraft

4 - Be - Beryllium: proprietary lathe software written in Python

5 - B - Boron: N/A?

6 - C - Carbon: C-based API developed by Apple to port classic Mac apps to MacOS X, programming language developed by Google to be interoperable with C++, "Karbon" is some accounting management software

7 - N - Nitrogen: Financial planning software (previously "Riskalyze"). Funnily enough, there is also a racehorse called "Nitrogen" which, according to Wikipedia, was the 2024 "Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Filly"!

8 - O - Oxygen: default font in KDE, "OxygenOS" is the skin of Android in (global) OnePlus phones. "Oxygen XML editor" is self-explanatory. Again, there is a racehorse called "Oxygen" which Wikipedia says was regarded as the "leading two-year-old filly in the South of England in 1830"!

9 - F - Fluorine: some productivity app

10 - Ne - Neon: game engine, music visualisation software, "KDE Neon" is a distro developed by KDE

11 - Na - Sodium: Minecraft optimization mod, MMO game for PS3, and interestingly enough, another racehorse!

12 - Mg - Magnesium: port of the "Sodium" Minecraft optimization mod for Forge

13 - Al - Aluminium: Google's "Aluminium OS" (replacement for ChromeOS), various software designed for manufacturing/designing aluminium parts

14 - Si - Silicon: "Silicon IDE" is self explanatory, "Silicon Labs" is a Japanese technology company, Apple's processors are known as "Apple Silicon", you of course have "Silicon Valley"

15 - P - Phosphorus: some IoT enterprise solution. This is also yet another racehorse, which won the 1837 Epsom Derby despite having a leg injury!

16 - S - Sulfur/Sulphur: a modern old-school action-adventure game, codename for Fedora 9. "Sulphur Nimbus: Hel's Elixir" is a game on itch.io where you control a hippogriff, interesting!

17 - Cl - Chlorine: library to interact with OpenCL devices

18 - Ar - Argon: CAD modelling software, tool for developing Roblox games. "Argon2" is a cryptographic key derivation function that won the 2015 Password Hashing Competition

19 - K - Potassium: "Kalium" (where we get the symbol "K" from!) is the name of a web framework that handle asynchronous microservices

20 - Ca - Calcium: digital health software, web calendar by "Brown Bear Software"

21 - Sc - Scandium: Automation tool for software testing. One thing of note, a company called "Element 21" (a golf and fishing equipment company) paid the Russian Federal Space Agency to launch a golf ball into space!

22 - Ti - Titanium: Sophisticated malware discovered in 2019 by Kaspersky Lab. "Titanium SDK" is used to develop native Android and iOS apps using JavaScript.

23 - V - Vanadium: Browser developed by the GrapheneOS team

24 - Cr - Chromium: The backbone of all the modern browsers, aside from Firefox and its forks, OpenGL implementation

25 - Mn - Manganese: Codename for Windows 10 20H2 apparently?

26 - Fe - Iron: C# library company (they have a suite of .NET apps prefixed with "Iron"), "IronFox" is a privacy-focused Android browser

27 - Co - Cobalt: codename for v6.0 of PalmOS, action side-scrolling game developed by Mojang, CAD modelling program

28 - Ni - Nickel: some payment processor

29 - Cu - Copper: some web-based project management tool

30 - Zn - Zinc: "Zinc Application Platform" is used for creating GUI apps. "OpenZinc" is a project to preserve v1.0 to v4.2 of the former. It's also ANOTHER racehorse!

31 - Ga - Gallium: "Gallium3D" is a set of open-source graphics drivers that is part of the Mesa library of graphics drivers. "GalliumOS" is a discontinued OS targeting Chromebooks

32 - Ge - Germanium: Codename for Windows 11 24H2

33 - As - Arsenic: audience response system (whatever that is?), some online gaming website

34 - Se - Selenium: software testing framework

35 - Br - Bromine: codename for Windows 11 26H2 (an apt name, it sounds very smelly with lots of AI "features"...). "Bromite", the Chromium-based browser, is pretty close but is an ion containing bromine (BrO2-)

36 - Kr - Krypton: a programming language

37 - Rb - Rubidium: N/A?

38 - Sr - Strontium: Russian hacker group "Fancy Bear" is sometimes called "STRONTIUM"

39 - Y - Yttrium: Russian hacker group "Cozy Bear" is sometimes called "YTTRIUM"

40 - Zr - Zirconium: N/A?

41 - Nb - Niobium: N/A?

42 - Mo - Molybdenum: N/A?

43 - Tc - Technetium: N/A?

44 - Ru - Ruthenium: N/A?

45 - Rh - Rhodium: N/A?

46 - Pd - Palladium: A 1958 CIA program to study and interfere Soviet radar (yes really)

47 - Ag - Silver: 2nd gen Pokemon game, various video game characters named Silver

48 - Cd - Cadmium: N/A?

49 - In - Indium: N/A?

50 - Sn - Tin: newsreader software

51 - Sb - Antimony: CAD software

52 - Te - Tellurium: some Python package about biology stuff idk

53 - I - Iodine: some AI software used in hospitals, idk

54 - Xe - Xenon: Dutch software used in 6 countries to find tax evaders (yes really), codename for Xbox 360

55 - Cs - Caesium/Cesium: library specialising in "3D geospatial visualisation" (i.e. globes)

56 - Ba - Barium: N/A?

57 - La - Lanthanum: N/A?

58 - Ce - Cerium
59 - Pr - Praseodymium
60 - Nd - Neodymium
61 - Pm - Promethium
62 - Sm - Samarium
63 - Eu - Europium
64 - Gd - Gadolinium
65 - Tb - Terbium
66 - Dy - Dysprosium
67 - Ho - Holmium
68 - Er - Erbium
69 - Tm - Thulium
70 - Yb - Ytterbium
71 - Lu - Lutetium
72 - Hf - Hafnium
73 - Ta - Tantalum

74 - W - Tungsten: "WolframAlpha" is a supercharged version of the calculator ("Wolfram" is where we get the W!), "Wolfram Language" is used in the computing program "Wolfram Mathematica"

75 - Re - Rhenium

76 - Os - Osmium: Tool for working with OpenStreetMap data

77 - Ir - Iridium: satellite company

78 - Pt - Platinum: 4th gen pokemon game

79 - Au - Gold: 2nd gen Pokemon game and its protagonist

80 - Hg - Mercury: software developed by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre to analyze crystal structures

81 - Tl - Thallium

82 - Pb - Lead: N/A?

83 - Bi - Bismuth: programming language, tiling windows add-on for KDE Plasma

84 - Po - Polonium: N/A?

85 - At - Astatine
86 - Rn - Radon
87 - Fr - Francium
88 - Ra - Radium 89 - Ac - Actinium

90 - Th - Thorium: Chromium-based browser

91 - Pa - Protactinium

92 - U - Uranium: backup software

93 - Np - Neptunium: N/A?

94 - Pu - Plutonium: Call of Duty mod

95 - Am - Americium
96 - Cm - Curium
97 - Bk - Berkelium
98 - Cf - Californium
99 - Es - Einsteinium
100 - Fm - Fermium

101 - Md - Mendelevium: N/A?

102 - No - Nobelium
103 - Lr - Lawrencium
104 - Rf - Rutherfordium
105 - Db - Dubnium
106 - Sg - Seaborgium 107 - Bh - Bohrium
108 - Hs - Hassium
109 - Mt - Meitnerium
110 - Ds - Darmstadtium
111 - Rg - Roentgenium
112 - Cn - Copernicium
113 - Nh - Nihonium
114 - Fl - Flerovium
115 - Mc - Moscovium
116 - Lv - Livermorium
117 - Ts - Tennessine

118 - Og - Oganesson: free open-source cache deleter? Weird

Is this the right community to post this in? It's not really a meme, but it's not very serious either...

Now I need to get back to doing chemistry homework...

top 33 comments
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[–] CyberTailor@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Thorium is also a Chromium-based browser

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 2 points 18 hours ago

Ah right, forgot about that one

[–] isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I play Minecraft.

a lot.

here's a list of all the Minecraft mods which have element names, with a !! next to ones you have nothing for

Note that these mods have nothing to do with the element itself, they do not add any chemicals to Minecraft, but are simply named like that.

If I were to include mods that added the element and were called like that, it would cover 75% of the table

Hydrogen

https://modrinth.com/mod/hydrogen

Lithium

https://modrinth.com/mod/lithium

Fluorine

https://modrinth.com/mod/fluorine_y

Nitrogen

https://modrinth.com/mod/nitrogen_rbn

Neon

https://modrinth.com/mod/neon

Sodium

https://modrinth.com/mod/sodium

Phosphor

https://modrinth.com/mod/phosphor

Argon

https://modrinth.com/mod/argonmod

Calcium

https://modrinth.com/mod/calcium-fps

Scandium

https://modrinth.com/mod/scandium

Titanium (there's actually 2)

https://modrinth.com/mod/titanium

https://modrinth.com/mod/titaniumod

Vanadium

https://modrinth.com/mod/vanadium

Cobalt

https://modrinth.com/mod/cobalt

Niobium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/niobium

Palladium

https://modrinth.com/mod/mpalladium

Rubidium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/rubidium/versions

Yttrium

https://modrinth.com/mod/yttrium

Indium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/indium

Neodymium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/nd1710

Xenon

https://modrinth.com/mod/xenon-forge

Osmium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/osmium

Mercury

https://modrinth.com/mod/mercuryium

Bismuth

https://modrinth.com/mod/bismuth-2

Radon !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/radon

Francium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/francium-optimization

Radium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/radium

Thorium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/thorium

Uranium

https://modrinth.com/mod/uranium_mod

Plutonium

https://modrinth.com/mod/beta-plutonium

Mendelevium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/mendelevium

Fermium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/fermiumbooter

Seaborgium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/seaborgium

Meitmerium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/meitnerium

Flerovium !!

https://modrinth.com/mod/flerovium

other software that you have not found anything for

Iridium browser (chrome fork with privacy in mind)

https://iridiumbrowser.de/

other software that is so cool it's worth a mention

Iodine (VPN over DNS requests, not a vpn over port 53, actually encoding traffic in a dns request, in some cases can get you connection even before logging in a captive portal and paying, like in hotels/planes) https://github.com/yarrick/iodine

[–] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 5 points 23 hours ago

Here is osmium, a framework and tool to work with OpenStreetMap data.

[–] alzymologist@sopuli.xyz 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How to say you have adhd without saying it.

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I've got Asperger's (pronounced "asburgers", not "aspurrgers"), not ADHD!

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 3 points 22 hours ago

There's definitely a lot of shared symptoms between the two. My wife is like you while I have garden variety ADHD, and sometimes I question whether I might be autistic too (I'm not).

[–] alzymologist@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

Whatever, it's normies who are supposed to be sorting us out. You know that only normies themselves are standartizeable, we are just being ourselves, - non-normies.

I'll surely name something after an element if applicable, but the onec I was considering in the past turned out to be occupied already.

[–] radix@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

77 - Iridium is a satellite communications company.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

And more! Was surprised no one had taken that one so I looked.

C'mon OP! Get on our level!

(This list is seriously impressive, much love OP.)

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Guys, please don't call anything after Zirconium or Niobium. We need the names for the future Russian hacker groups Snugly Bear and Hugging Bear.

On a more serious note, someone is developing an operating system codenamed Boron.

[–] sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Iridium is the name of the OG satellite phone network

[–] oatscoop@midwest.social 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Also used by Garmin InReach SOS/communicators

[–] fysyszykytypy@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

84 - Po - Polonium - Polish government system for information about higher education and science (POL-on) - https://polon.nauka.gov.pl/en/

86 - Rn - Radonium - Reporting system based on information collected in POL-on and other polish sources about science in Poland - https://radon.nauka.gov.pl/

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

huh, who knew. I really ran out of steam after technetium

[–] fysyszykytypy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Well, I forgot to mention I am truly impressed by your list.

POL-on and RAD-on are quite specialized pieces of software that even in Poland aren't known very well. And the names come from polish words without "-ium", so they could not not pop up in english search results. Surely there are more niche pieces neither of us stand a chance to find easily

[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago

For Xenon - Intel integrated graphics for budget segment were branded as Intel (Iris) Xe.

That's one great copypasta. Idk when one should post it tho. Any ideas?

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago

I’m am very surprised there isn’t a ruby based compiled language called zirconium.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Although not public, I use a rubidium.pl script I wrote at work to interact with a bunch of rubidium clocks.

Rubidium is a pretty cool element. Completely chill.

[–] ranzispa@mander.xyz 8 points 1 day ago

Might be worth making a list on wikidata.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Cadmium needs to be CAD software. Unfortunately I'm not a CAD expert so I can't help.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 12 hours ago

Good, I was too lazy to elgoog and trusted OP's research too much it seems

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Interestingly enough, there's already CAD software called Argon, Cobalt, and Antimony (there could be more, but I didn't dig too deep). Cadmium would be a fourth element with CAD software named after it. Maybe someone will fork FreeCAD and call it Cadmium...

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

Good idea. Or port it to Rust and call it Ferrum just to fuck with people who know about Argon, Cobalt and Antimony and would expect the next one to be called Cadmium.

Yes I'm aware that's not feasible, just joking.

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

we need more open-source software named after the elements!

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Earth wind & fire!

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Better go back and check some of those unchecked elements, because I'm only counting 53 of the elements being the namesake for something, so your title of "most of the elements" is incorrect.

j/k, fun list

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 day ago

fixed the title. Making the list was no fun at all, half of the stuff I saw were weird crypto and AI companies.

[–] alias_qr_rainmaker@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

38 - Sr - Strontium: Russian hacker group “Fancy Bear” is sometimes called “STRONTIUM”

when i was recovering from my TBI three years ago i tried to convince a bunch of people on discord that i was with fancy bear. the bad thing is that the brain damage made it hard to get the idea across so what i posted looked more or less like gibberish

[–] far_university1990@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

the brain damage

TBI or discord?