Albert Ghiorso
Albert Ghiorso ( born July 15, 1915 in Vallejo, California, † December 26, 2010 in Berkeley, California ) was an American nuclear physicist.
Ghiorso in 1937 acquired a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and worked on the construction of Geiger counters. Due to these activities, he was appointed to the Team of the Manhattan Project and later worked in the group of Glenn Seaborg in exploring the transuranic elements (atomic number greater than 92).
Ghiorso was involved in the discovery of transuranium elements with atomic numbers 95-106:
- Americium c.1945 (item 95)
- Curium 1944 (item 96)
- Berkelium, 1949 ( item 97)
- Californium 1950 ( item 98)
- Einsteinium 1952 ( item 99)
- Fermium 1953 ( item 100)
- Mendelevium 1955 ( item 101)
- Nobelium 1958/1959 (item 102)
- Lawrencium 1961 (item 103)
- Rutherfordium 1969 ( item 104)
- Dubnium (then called Hahnium ) 1970 ( item 105)
- Seaborgium 1974 ( item 106)
In 1973 he was awarded the American Chemical Society Award for Nuclear Applications in Chemistry, 2004, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Radiochemistry Society.
In his honor, the element 118, Ununoctium, Ghiorsium should be called. After it became known that a colleague had faked the measured data of the underlying alleged discovery, however, the proposed name had to be withdrawn.