Word: americium
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...transuranian elements," i.e., elements heavier than uranium (atomic number 92). First made was neptunium (No. 93), which McMillan named after the planet just outside Uranus. Neptunium turns spontaneously into plutonium (No. 94), used in atom bombs. The other transuranian elements, also produced for the first time at Berkeley: americium (No. 95), curium (No. 96), berkelium (No. 97) and californium...
Atomic experts bombarded uranium with atomic particles from the cyclotron and produced neptunium, a new "synthetic" element with 93 electrons. Next, Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg and co-workers discovered plutonium (No. 94), and, four years later, at the University of Chicago, americium (No. 95) and curium (No. 96). Last week tall, gaunt, 37-year-old Chemist Seaborg and his associates were in the news again. By bombarding americium with alpha particles, they had produced another new element, with 97 electrons...