氦是以希腊神话中泰坦族的太阳神赫利奥斯命名。氦的首次发现是由乔治斯·雷页特[11]、C. T. 海格上尉[12]、诺曼·R·波格森[13]和约翰·赫歇尔中尉[13]在1868年的日全食观测到一条未知的黄色光谱,后来被法国的天文学家侏尔斯·詹森[14]证实有这条光谱,同时约瑟夫·诺曼·洛克耶也独力在英国发现一样的结果。人们认为发现氦是侏尔斯·詹森和约瑟夫·诺曼·洛克耶的功劳。而洛克耶也是第一个提出这条光谱是来自一种新的元素,并命名此元素。而正式的发现则是在1895年由瑞典的两位化学家皮·特奥多尔·克利夫(英语:Per Teodor Cleve)和尼尔斯·朗勒特(英语:Abraham Langlet)从沥青铀矿中分离出氦。在1903年,在美国发现大存量的天然氦气井,直到现在依旧为氦气的最大供应商。
而液态氦则用于低温(单用氦的最大宗,占了四分之一),特别是在超导磁体的冷却中,主要的商业应用是在MRI扫描仪中。 在工业上,氦气有许多用途。例如:作为加压和吹扫气体、电弧焊接时的保护气体、及参与制造晶体的化学反应过程(如制造硅晶圆时,氦气占所产生气体的一半)。日常生活中的小用途则是作为气球或飞艇上升所需的气体。[15]与密度和空气密度不同的任何气体一样,吸入少量氦气会暂时改变人声的音调。在科研方面,氦(4He)两个流体相(He I & He II)的表现性,对于科学家在研究量子力学(特别是超流动性的性质)及观察如超导电性(产于近乎绝对零度)的现象是很重要的。
在美国,2000年至2004年间仅报告了两起氦气死亡事件,其中一名男子于2002年在北卡罗来纳州因气压伤死亡。[64][69]2003年,在温哥华有一名青年窒息,而在2000年有一名27岁的澳大利亚男子在吸入氦气瓶的氦气后发生栓塞。[64]2006年,有两名成年人在南佛罗里达窒息。[64][65][70]在2009年和2010年也有案例,一名加利福尼亚青年被发现头上套着一个挂在一个氦气罐上的袋子,[71]而在北爱尔兰的另一名青少年死于氦气导致的窒息。[72]在俄勒冈州鹰角(英语:Eagle Point, Oregon),一名少女于2012年在一次聚会上死于气压伤。[73][74][75]同年,密歇根州的一名女孩因缺氧而死亡。 [76]
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= C. T. Haig (1868) "Account of spectroscopic observations of the eclipse of the sun, August 18th, 1868,"Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 17 : 74–80. From p. 74: "I may state at once that I observed the spectra of two red flames close to each other, and in their spectra two broad bright bands quite sharply defined, one rose-madder and the other light golden."
Pogson filed his observations of the 1868 eclipse with the local Indian government,
but his report wasn't published. (Biman B. Nath, The Story of Helium and the Birth of Astrophysics (New York, New York: Springer, 2013), p. 8.) Nevertheless, Lockyer quoted from his report. From p. 320 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) of Lockyer, J. Norman (1896) "The story of helium. Prologue," Nature, 53 : 319–322 : "Pogson, in referring to the eclipse of 1868, said that the yellow line was "at D, or near D." "
Lieutenant John Herschel (1868) "Account of the solar eclipse of 1868, as seen at Jamkandi in the Bombay Presidency,"Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 17 : 104–120. From p. 113: As the moment of the total solar eclipse approached, " … I recorded an increasing brilliancy in the spectrum in the neighborhood of D, so great in fact as to prevent any measurement of that line till an opportune cloud moderated the light. I am not prepared to offer any explanation of this." From p. 117: "I also consider that there can be no question that the ORANGE LINE was identical with D, so far as the capacity of the instrument to establish any such identity is concerned."
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