The book of science

Tom Sharp

Guntur, West HampsteadPierre Janssen, Norman Lockyer, Luigi Palmieri, William Ramsay, Per Teodor Cleve, Nils Abraham Langlet elements


Atomic number 2


Why is helium rare on earth? It it light and it doesn’t combine with other elements, so it has floated off into space. What we have is produced by radioactive decay of uranium and thorium inside the earth. No minerals contain helium in their chemical formulae.

Norman Lockyer was the founder, in 1869, of the science journal Nature.

See also in The book of science:

Readings on wikipedia:

Other readings:

  • Helium,” Elementymology & Elements Multidict, by Peter van der Krogt