When Neon Was New: How NIST Researchers Helped America Discover the Iconic Neon Sign
After Scottish scientist Sir William Ramsay discovered neon and several other gases, he sent samples to NIST — then called the National Bureau of Standards — for further study.
Ramsay won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for this discovery in 1904. The gases Ramsay identified — neon, argon, helium, krypton and xenon — are known as noble gases because they’re a bit snobby and won’t readily combine with other gases.
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