Which element was named after the asteroid Pallas?

Which element was named after the asteroid Pallas? The answer is palladium. The element received its name from Pallas, the second asteroid discovered, which astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers found in 1802.

Pallas itself was named for Pallas Athena, a figure associated with the Greek goddess Athena. Chemist William Hyde Wollaston discovered palladium in 1803 while examining platinum ore, and he chose the new name soon after the asteroid’s discovery made Pallas a prominent astronomical subject.

Palladium is a silvery-white transition metal with atomic number 46. It belongs to the platinum-group metals and is valued for catalytic chemistry, jewelry, electronics, and its ability to absorb substantial amounts of hydrogen.

The name can be confused with platinum, rhodium, or ruthenium because all are platinum-group metals. Their shared chemical family does not mean they share the same naming story: palladium is the one specifically linked to the asteroid Pallas.