“As the first Black woman to be involved in the discovery of an element, she is an inspiration for the next generation of women and people of color in STEM,” it said.

Phelps contributed to the discovery that filled in square 117 on the periodic table, creating tennesine (Ts), the second-heaviest known element on Earth.

No element with the precise chemical and physical properties to fit that spot in the familiar chart ever had been found or synthesized. It would have to have 117 protons in its core.