Friedrich Ernst Dorn (1848-1916) was a German physicist who discovered radon in 1900.

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 "radium emanation". The gas was later called "niton", and, in 1923, it became "radon". Named after "the element radium", the name niton comes from the Latin word "nitens", meaning "shining".

German physicists | 1848 births | 1916 deaths | Discoverers of chemical elements

Friedrich Ernst Dorn | Friedrich Ernst Dorn