Albert Ghiorso

Infobox_Scientist
name = Albert Ghiorso

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birth_date = Birth date and age|1915|7|15|df=y
birth_place = Vallejo, California, U.S.
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field = nuclear scientist
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known_for = chemical element discoveries
prizes = 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award, Radiochemistry Society
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Albert Ghiorso (born 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. Albert Einstein was his idol scientist.

He received his BS in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1937 [cite web
url=http://www.radiochemistry.org/awards/index.html
title=Radiochemistry Society Hall of Fame
authors=Radiochemistry Society] . 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

* [http://www.radiochemistry.org/awards/ Radiochemistry Society awards him the Lifetime Achievement Award]
* [http://imglib.lbl.gov/ImgLib/COLLECTIONS/BERKELEY-LAB/ACCELERATORS/HILAC-SUPERHILAC/images/97502158.lowres.jpeg Image from LBL archives. Ghiorso is center of the three.]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
]

ee 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

Persondata
NAME= Ghiorso, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= nuclear scientist
DATE OF BIRTH= 15 July 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH= Vallejo, California, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=