Perhaps few science stories bring discovery, diplomacy, and Cold War intrigue so neatly together as the race to synthesize transfermium elements—superheavy atoms past the atomic number 100 on the periodic chart. A recent post on Hackaday, featuring a captivating video produced by [The History Guy], uncovers this wonderful story, detailing how the search for new elements turned into a geopolitically charged game of chess for the United States and the Soviet Union. Far from a dry academic endeavor, this “nuclear war that you never saw” was an intense drama where cyclotrons, international rivalries, and instances of friendship shaped the periodic chart that exists today.
The Science of the Unseen
Crafting the transfermium elements took a Herculean endeavor. These synthetic atoms, which lasted only milliseconds, took the most advanced technology and limitless ingenuity. The Soviet Union’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) at Dubna and the University of California at Berkeley Lab sought to compete for this endeavor. With the use of cyclotrons—giant particle accelerators—scientists bombarded targets with high-energy particles in an attempt to merge nuclei and create new, unstable elements.
The procedure was as challenging as it reads. It required accuracy to spot these fleeting atoms, and demonstrating that they had existed was even more difficult. There was typically disagreement over who had created an element first because the initial discoveries were confused, with laboratories on opposite sides of the Atlantic racing to establish precedence. According to Williams, “Part of the challenge was to show that you created huge atoms for a few milliseconds. It was generally the case that the first creator hadn’t been absolutely sure.”
A Diplomatic Minuet in the Periodic Table
What put this scientific pursuit on the map of Cold War drama was the politics of nomenclature. Amidst an era of ideological competition, the naming of an element was not just a nod to discovery but a chance to declare national glory or honor a scientific icon. The American and Russian labs battled to memorialize their scientists, their labs, or their national legends, transforming the periodic table of elements into a stage of diplomacy.
A poignant example of goodwill amidst acrimony was that American scientists even gave the name element 101 Mendelevium to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, the inventor of the periodic table. That gesture of solidarity did not last long, writes Williams. Alas, the piece goes on to state, “the good feelings didn’t last.” Feuds about the next elements, such as who would receive the glory for elements like Nobelium or Lawrencium, fed the continuing rivalries at Berkeley and Dubna.
Voices from the Lab: Reader Feedback
The readers’ comments at Hackaday add to the story, fleshing out the narrative. Miles Archer, who is acquainted with the Berkeley nuclear chemistry graduate students of the 1980s, maintains that the Berkeley group was disdainful of the Dubna lab effort, attributing the tensions to deep-seated professional jealousies. Archer is also indignant at [The History Guy]’s so-called slight, bristling at the discovery of element 98 being named Californium—a nod to the University of California, not the city of Berkeley. “Go Bears!” he writes, indicating institutional pride at risk.
The other respondents look at the human face of science. CJay argues that unlike politicians, scientists cross borders and cultures freely in mutual respect, something that is in line with the Mendelevium gesture. Greg A responds that the scientists are not above political motives, being tempered as they were in the economic and social tides of their time. These points of reflection are two sides of the same coin: the pursuit of transfermium elements was at the same time a mutual achievement and agonistic struggle.
The cultural and visual heritage
The cover photo, a photograph of a Berkeley experiment, is a showstopper. From the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory photo collection (https://photos.lbl.gov/bp/#/folder/198646/), we are transported to the analog age of nuclear research—giant machines, hand rigging, and the exhilaration of discovery. Viewers like TG sing the praises of how beautiful it is, complaining about the impossibility of discovering such archive gems. The picture is a visual signal to the time of technological optimism, where the cylotron was the pinnacle of scientific achievement.
The post also has some chuckles speculating on the naming of a potential future element “Hackadaium” in honor of the Hackaday community. Commentators jump in on the joke, with elwing proposing “Hackadaium McAdayFace” due to the internet’s fondness for irreverence or I Alone Possess The Truth proposing “Essfourium” or “Elizondium,” the former a tip-of-the-hat to an element the U.S. Defense Department would most likely not acknowledge. These lighthearted back-and-forth are just one example of the continuing fascination with discovering an element and how it is susceptible to the influence of culture.
The Future of Element Discovery
Williams tantalizes with the intriguing potential that technology may make the cyclotron obsolete for the discovery of new elements in the not-too-distant future. The piece does not specify, but leaves the reader wondering how new equipment—laser-accelerator or computational modeling, perhaps—will revolutionize nuclear chemistry. Should a new element be found, the naming decision will again arise, intertwining science, politics, and humor of the moment.
Why Does This Matter Today
The battle for transfermium elements is not just an aside to history; it is a window to the dynamics of science, politics, and human drive. The periodic chart of the Cold War era was a site of competition across the globe, but also of the moments of cooperation, like the discovery of Mendelevium. With the countries and centers of power now competing in the realms of AI, space, and quantum technology, the story is a reminder that the success in the sciences cannot be removed from the human dynamics behind it—competing rivalries, friendships, and all. For the inquisitive who crave more, [The History Guy]’s video is a dramatization, while Berkeley Lab’s photo collection is a photographic journey through the ages. Whether you’re a scientist or a student of history, this is the “nuclear war you never saw” that testifies to the continued power of discovery to shape our lives—and our periodic table.
