How Do You Pronounce 'Uranus'?

By Nancy Atkinson - January 15, 2010 at 3:38 PM UTC | Planetary Science
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Uranus is the planet with the funny name and the odd orientation. So, when you say the word 'Uranus' do you stress the first syllable or the second? Or, perhaps you do as Dr. Pamela Gay suggests, in order to avoid "being made fun of by any small schoolchildren ... when in doubt, don't emphasize anything and just say 'Uranus.' And then run, quickly."

This video is the latest offering from "Sixty Symbols," a video series put together by the University of Nottingham which provides explanations for the "squiggly lines and Greek letters that astronomers and physicists use to describe physical properties of the Universe and how they apply to modern life," said Dr. Amanda Bauer, who gave a presentation about Sixty Symbols at the

dotAstronomy conference

I attended in December (and who is the first person you see on the Uranus video.)

Sixty Symbols covers symbols like Lambda and the Hubble Constant (H) to the speed of light (c), imaginary numbers (j) and propulsion efficiency — explaining their meanings in everyday language, and taking advantage of the passion and the unique senses of humor the scientists at The University of Nottingham all seem to possess!

Bauer said, however, the real genius behind these videos is filmmaker Brady Haran.

In the fall of 2009, the Sixty Symbols team completed their first sixty symbols, and they proved so popular they are now working on another sixty. The project follows The University of Nottingham's '

Periodic Table of Videos' project

, which features an entertaining short film about the properties of every single element in the Periodic Table, from aluminium to xenon.

Check out the

Sixty Symbols website

, and the

Sixty Symbols You Tube site

to learn more

You can also watch

Bauer's dotAstronomy presentation about Sixty Symbols here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com