Other notable people and advances that have been recognized include Joseph Priestley and the discovery of oxygen; Rachel Lloyd, the first American woman to earn a doctoral degree in chemistry; the discovery and development of penicillin; the legacy of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; the discovery of transuranium elements at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the development of Tide synthetic detergent; the discovery of fullerenes; and St.
by Sophie Rovner, ACS staff | December 16, 2022
Birch worked on the Manhattan Project and at Harvard University and was one of the founders of modern geophysics. In the 1950s, he calculated that the outer core is about 10% less dense than it would be if it were made of pure iron (J. Geophys. Res. 1952, DOI: 10.1029/JZ057i002p00227). The core must include some lighter elements.
by Katherine Bourzac | October 02, 2022
Alexis: And the fact that in 2010 China produced 97% of the world’s rare earth elements led to another obvious, yet incorrect conclusion: Klinger: Oh China produces the most rare earth elements because China has the most rare earth elements. Lisa: And all of these assumptions led to a big, frightening conclusion that China was holding the world hostage through its supposed rare earth embargo.
by Kerri Jansen | July 31, 2021
James Andrew Harris The discovery of an element is a rare occurrence. Defying racial and academic expectations, James Andrew Harris played a prominent role in the discovery of two elements. Harris, who grew up in both Texas and California, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1953 from Huston-Tillotson College in Austin, Texas.
by Megha Satyanarayana, Nicholas St. Fleur, special to C&EN | February 22, 2021
Noting that “the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future,” Einstein adds, “it is conceivable . . . that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed.” The letter spurred government action that ultimately led to the Manhattan Project and the dawn of the nuclear age. When Einstein wrote that message, uranium was the heaviest known element and sat immediately below tungsten in the periodic table. It didn’t hold either position for long. In early 1940, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, used their new cyclotron particle accelerator to slam neutrons into a uranium-238 target, creating a heavier element they named neptunium.
by Mark Peplow, special to C&EN | March 04, 2019
Once my oldest sister reached college age, my mom and dad took another big gamble and moved their business to Manhattan, the home of Kansas State University, giving all of us the opportunity for college while still keeping us close by so we could all help out at the shop. Time and again, my parents took risks, sometimes risking all, to better our lives, and that has been a powerful and driving lesson for me.
by Geraldine Richmond | March 19, 2018
His earlier work in support of the Manhattan Project is well-known. In addition, his interest in the chemistry of rare earths led to the development of ion-exchange procedures that made it possible for us to produce some of the first multigram quantities of high-purity rare-earth oxides by a relatively simple process.
October 02, 2017
As part of the Manhattan Project in 1942, the researchers developed methods to remove traces of rare-earth metals from the uranium used to create the first nuclear chain reaction and to make the first nuclear bombs. Not much was known about the chemistry of the rare earths in the 1940s, or even by the 1960s.
by Stephen K. Ritter | August 28, 2017