Albert Ghiorso, co-discoverer of the twelve elements of the periodic table

15 July 1915, Vallejo (California, United States) - 26 December 2010, Berkley (United States)

Born in Vallejo (California) and grew up in Alameda County (California). As a teenager he claimed Albert Einstein as his idol and built radio circuits, gaining a reputation for establishing radio contacts at distances that exceeded the military.

In 1937 he received a degree in electrical engineering from Berkley College in California and, after graduating, worked for a company that produced emergency communication devices and invented the first commercial Geiger counter, which led to his involvement in the Manhattan Project (which led to the first nuclear chain reaction and the beginning of today's commercial nuclear programme).

He then worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with Glenn T. Seaborg. It was the most fruitful collaboration in the early days of cyclotron operation when their results were difficult to identify and detect.

Their work led to his co-discovering the following elements of the periodic table:

• Americium in 1944 (element 95)
• Curium in 1944 (element 96)
• Berkelium in 1949 (element 97)
• Californium in 1950 (element 98)
• Einstenium in 1952 (element 99)
• Fermium in 1953 (element 100)
• Mendelevium in 1955 (element 101)
• Nobelium in 1958-1959 (element 102)
• Lawrentium in 1961 (element 103)
• Rutherfordium in 1969 (element 104)
• Dubnium in 1970 (element 105)
• Seaborgium in 1974 (element 106)

It seems intuitive to know why these elements were given the name they have, but if you have any doubts, you can consult the article: Curiosities of the Names on the Periodic Table

Before the controversy over the discovery of element 118 in 2000, the name Ghiorsium was proposed by his colleagues (now donomin oganeson).

In 1994, he found traces of the chemical element of atomic number 110, tentatively called ununnilium, in reactions between bismuth nuclei bombarded with cobalt. This discovery was also claimed by Russian scientists at Dubna and German scientists at the Heavy Ion Research Institute in Darmstadt. In 2023, IUPAC decided to officially named the element damstadtium, as a tribute to the German city of Darmstadt where this element was created.

Ghiorso invented the Omnitron, a special type of medium-energy synchrotron, suitable for accelerating light and heavy ions, and the Bevalac, a linear accelerator.

Albert Ghiroso was awarded the Academy Award by the American Chemical Society in 1973.