GLENN SEABORG
What was the Element/s that were named after this scientist?
The element that was named after Glenn Seaborg is called Seaborgium. This element is 106th on the periodic table and is a very unstable element created from high-energy atomic collisions.
What sort of work did this scientist do?
Glenn Seaborg was an American scientist who specialised in nuclear chemistry and studied synthesis (the combination of elements that form a connected whole) and worked with transuranium elements (elements that have an atomic number bigger that 92).
What did they discover?
Glenn Seaborg discovered Plutonium and Californium and identified 7 more transuranium elements which were americium, curium, berkelium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium and nobelium.
Plutonium is the 94th element on the periodic table and it is radioactive metal that is used in nuclear reactors as a fuel. It is rare element enriched from uranium mining.
Californium is the 98th element on the periodic table and it is a radioactive metal from the actinide series (15 metallic elements between 89 and 103).
Why has their work been so important?
Glenn Seaborg won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 for the determining the chemistry of the transuranium elements. Without knowledge on these elements, we wouldn’t understand the concept of ‘half-lives’ (the time in which 1 half of the atomic nuclei have decayed or disintegrated). Without Glenn Seaborg discovering these 9 elements on the periodic table, we would not understand these atomic structures that are used so much in the research worldwide today. He discovered the element that is used in atomic bombs, but he also discovered the radioisotopes (a radioactive element) used to treat the millions of people suffering from cancer. To honour his efforts in Chemistry, an element was named after him and put into the periodic table. He is the only person to date that had an element named after him whilst still alive.
Glenn Seaborg was an American scientist who specialised in nuclear chemistry and studied synthesis (the combination of elements that form a connected whole) and worked with transuranium elements (elements that have an atomic number bigger that 92).
What did they discover?
Glenn Seaborg discovered Plutonium and Californium and identified 7 more transuranium elements which were americium, curium, berkelium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium and nobelium.
Plutonium is the 94th element on the periodic table and it is radioactive metal that is used in nuclear reactors as a fuel. It is rare element enriched from uranium mining.
Californium is the 98th element on the periodic table and it is a radioactive metal from the actinide series (15 metallic elements between 89 and 103).
Why has their work been so important?
Glenn Seaborg won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 for the determining the chemistry of the transuranium elements. Without knowledge on these elements, we wouldn’t understand the concept of ‘half-lives’ (the time in which 1 half of the atomic nuclei have decayed or disintegrated). Without Glenn Seaborg discovering these 9 elements on the periodic table, we would not understand these atomic structures that are used so much in the research worldwide today. He discovered the element that is used in atomic bombs, but he also discovered the radioisotopes (a radioactive element) used to treat the millions of people suffering from cancer. To honour his efforts in Chemistry, an element was named after him and put into the periodic table. He is the only person to date that had an element named after him whilst still alive.
THE VIDEO BELOW GIVES A BRIEF EXPLANATION ON ALBERT EINSTEIN'S LIFE STORY: