Here's a PR event that is literally out of this world: Element 21 Golf Co., a Toronto-based manufacturer of golf equipment, has arranged with Russia's space agency for a
cosmonaut to carry its clubs and balls into space this fall. The cosmonaut will hit a golf ball from the International Space Station out into the vastness of the universe
for a new record drive. Obviously that is amusing, but Element 21 justifies the seriousness of the event with an amazing stretch of history: The tee for this golf stunt is the
19th century Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, the primary creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements. Mendeleev made the radical prediction (for his time)
that new elements would be located in the 20th century. He was right, and among the first to be found was scandium, a metal used by Element 21 in its clubs. And as most high
school chemistry class students will recall, scandium is the 21st element on the periodic table - hence, the name of the golf company.