The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is…

fluorescence (noun):

: luminescence that is caused by the absorption of radiation at one wavelength followed by nearly immediate reradiation usually at a different wavelength and that ceases almost at once when the incident radiation stops

Source : Online Etymology Dictionary

Etymology : 1852, “property of glowing in ultraviolet light,” coined by English mathematician and physicist Sir George G. Stokes (1819-1903) from fluorspar, because in it he first noticed the phenomenon, + -escence, word-forming element meaning “process or state of being,” from Latin -escentia, from -escentem. Fluorine is a non-metallic element, 1813, coined by English chemist Sir Humphry Davy from fluorspar (“calcium fluoride,” modern fluorite), the late 18c. name of the mineral where it was first found. It was not isolated until 1886.

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