science · 30 April 1955 · 69 years ago
In 1955, the element 101, a new artificial element was announced. It was synthesized by bombardment of Es-253 with helium nuclei using the cyclotron at the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California by Albert Ghiorso, Bernard G. Harvey, G.R. Choppin and S.G. Thompson, research chemists, headed by the Nobel laureate Glenn T. Seaborg. Being radioactive, with a half-life of between a half hour to several hours, this transuranic element cannot exist in nature since it decays so rapidly into lighter elements. It was named mendelevium, named in honour of Dmitry Mendeleev, the Russian chemist who worked on the periodic classification of the elements.
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