Word of the week: Eponym
The current trail of earthquakes have shaken us all. Every time the slightest tremor strikes, it is the magnitude of the earthquake on the Richter scale which makes the headlines alongside videos of jiggling furniture! The Richter scale is, in fact, an eponym. An eponym is a word or phrase based on the name of a person. Scientists and explorers have a habit of naming their discoveries after themselves—or other people name their discoveries after them. The Richter scale is named after Charles Richter, a US seismologist, who developed this scale. Another such example
from science is Celsius, the unit for measuring temperature, also of the human body, named after Anders Celcius. Can you think of a few more eponyms?
The current trail of earthquakes have shaken us all. Every time the slightest tremor strikes, it is the magnitude of the earthquake on the Richter scale which makes the headlines alongside videos of jiggling furniture! The Richter scale is, in fact, an eponym. An eponym is a word or phrase based on the name of a person. Scientists and explorers have a habit of naming their discoveries after themselves—or other people name their discoveries after them. The Richter scale is named after Charles Richter, a US seismologist, who developed this scale. Another such example
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