68: Transuranium Elements

We discuss the discovery of elements 93 to 103, from 1940 through the early 1960s. We hear of Enrico Fermi's work, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner's discovery of fission, McMillan and Abelson's success, and then the long tenure of Glenn Seaborg discovering elements. Albert Ghiorso was added to the mix. There were Cold War controversies over discoveries at Berkeley versus Dubna and even the Nobel Institute in Sweden. IUPAC was inconsistent with its imprimatur on discovery. Finally, we hear something of the tribulations and difficulties in doing radioactive analytical chemistry on tiny amounts of elements.Support the Show. Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at steve@historyofchem.com Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook