Chemistry

Element 117 was extremely hard to produce owing to the almost non-availability of Berkelium needed for the process. When procured, transportation to Russia became a stumbling block. […]

American and Russian teams shared the credit for discovering Flerovium, and elements 116 and 118. Their camaraderie did continue but a new player entered the global competition of expanding the periodic table: Japan. […]

The GSI discovered three superheavy elements: Elements 107, 108 and 109. It was, however, element 109 which was a little extra special, as it was the only one to be named after a female scientist, Lise Meitner, who co-discovered nuclear fission. […]

The credit and the prestige of naming newly discovered elements was taken extremely seriously by scientists at both the Dubna and the Berkeley labs. The naming of element 102 was an example. […]

When Glenn Seaborg and his colleague Albert Ghiorso discovered element 101, the point was not only to be credited with its discovery but also getting to name it. They chose a Russian name, Mendelevium, for it, using this as an opportunity to extend an olive branch to them. […]

When the Berkeley team discovered element 100, the Swedish experiment published and laid the claim of having discovered it just days before them. […]

Glen T. Seaborg and his colleague fired helium nuclei at their new creations— americium and curium. Their idea worked as they ended up producing more new elements—elements 97 and 98! […]

Neptunium and plutonium were elements heavier than uranium that formed in early nuclear reactors when some nuclei captured neutrons to become even more massive. […]