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Douglas Adams element
42
JPL nickname for molybdenum, Z = 42. Michael Russell, 2014, on alkaline vents and the origin of life.
Photo ·CC BY 3.0
A JPL scientist named the metal after the joke. “We call molybdenum the Douglas Adams element.” Then: “Forty-two may in fact be one answer to the ultimate question of life.” NASA/JPL printed that. We did not add the Adams link later.
NASA / JPL
Printed 42s
A proton count. A catalogue seat. A scan. A model boundary. A patch that draws 4 and II. A joke a JPL scientist made in public. Different kinds. NASA printed them. That does not make them one Answer.
The metal
- Z = 42Molybdenum
Proton count. The integer was 42 before Adams.
jokeDouglas Adams elementhere
Russell at JPL named the metal. NASA printed the joke.
Sky and distance
- M42Orion Nebula
Catalogue seat. NASA’s Cosmic Hearth is Maya reception.
- C42Caldwell 42
Another catalogue. NGC 7006. Not a measured forty-two.
- ≈42 AUKuiper collisions
Stern 1995. A modeled boundary, not Albion’s distance.
- 42.1 km/sSolar escape
Vis-viva at 1 AU. Family 4.2, not 42.00.
Missions and tools
- 42 minMariner 2
A scan of Venus. Duration, not a law of the planet.
- 42 dApollo 12 S-IVB
Missed heliocentric burn. NASA prints the period.
- 42Expedition 42
Sequential crew number. The patch draws 4 and II.
- STS-42STS-42
Shuttle number. Discovery, IML-1.
- 42Horizons keywords
JPL’s own manual. A documentation count.
What it supports
Russell, Barge et al., Astrobiology 14 (2014). JPL water-world / alkaline-vent work. The nickname is on the atomic number already hung. A scientist’s joke in a NASA-funded origin-of-life paper.
What it does not
Not a second proton count. Not proof that Deep Thought was right. The vents are a hypothesis. The integer was already 42 before Adams.
ExactnessAuthored use
Form42
Unitnickname
Strengthattested
When2014-04
Hung16 September 2026