Friedrich Ernst Dorn

Friedrich Ernst Dorn (1848-1916) was a German physicist who discovered radon in 1898.

He was studying the natural radioactive decay of radium, trying to put together details about what was happening to the mass when he detected the presence of a radioactive gas. Dorn initially called the gas niton from the Latin word "nitens" meaning "shining' due to the phosphorescence of cooled radon.