Encyclopedia of Chemistry

Albert Ghiorso (b. 15 July 1915) is an American nuclear scientist who helped discover numerous chemical elements on the periodic table.

Biography

Early life

He was born in Vallejo, California and grew up in Alameda, California. As a teenager, he built radio circuitry and earned a reputation for establishing radio contacts at distances that outdid the military.

He received his BS in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1937^[1]. After graduation, he worked for a company that produced emergency communication devices, and invented the world's first commercial Geiger counter, which evolved into his participation in the Manhattan Project.

He was introduced to Glenn T. Seaborg through a mutual friendship between their wives who also worked as secretaries at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. (Likewise, Helen Griggs Seaborg was Ernest Orlando Lawrence's secretary when she met Glenn Seaborg.)

Research

Seaborg and Ghiorso's collaboration was most fruitful in the early days of the cyclotron, when its results were hard to identify and detect. Their work resulted in many elements being discovered at UC Berkeley, and Ghiorso is credited with having co-discovered the following elements:

• Americium ca. 1945 (element 95)
• Curium in 1944 (element 96)
• Berkelium in 1949 (element 97)
• Californium in 1950 (element 98)
• Einsteinium in 1952 (element 99)
• Fermium in 1953 (element 100)
• Mendelevium in 1955 (element 101)
• Nobelium in 1958-59 (element 102)
• Lawrencium in 1961 (element 103)
• Rutherfordium in 1969 (element 104)
• Dubnium in 1970 (element 105)
• Seaborgium in 1974 (element 106)

Before the mishap about the discovery of element #118 in 2000, the element was proposed to be named Ghiorsium by his colleagues.

External references

• Radiochemistry Society awards him the Lifetime Achievement Award

• Image from LBL archives. Ghiorso is center of the three.

See also

• Darleane Hoffman, succeeded Seaborg as leader of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Heavy Element Nuclear and Radiochemisry Group
• Greg Choppin, co-discoverer of element 101, Mendelevium
• Glenn T. Seaborg

References