Berkelium Atomic number 97 Analogues Commentary

Berkeley—Glenn T. Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso, Stanley Gerald Thompson elements

Berkelium

• Thompson, Ghiorso, and Seaborg
• produced element 97 by bombarding
• americium in a cyclotron
• with deuterons.

Atomic number 97

• Scientists in the United States have produced
• only a little more than a gram of berkelium,
• and none of its isotopes have a half-life long enough
• to have remained on Earth except for areas affected
• by nuclear power, accidents, and bomb detonations,
• even from the natural nuclear fission reactors at Oklo.

Analogues

• The people at Berkeley (pronounced BERK-ly)
• followed the naming rules of the lanthanides
• in the periodic table
• above the actinides they synthesized.
• Above element 95 is europium,
• named after the continent where it was found,
• Europe,
• so they named americium after America.
• Above element 96 is gadolinium,
• which honors a scientist who studied rare earths,
• Johan Gadolin,
• so curium honors Marie and Pierre Curie.
• Above element 97 is terbium,
• named after the town where it was found,
• Ytterby, Sweden,
• so they named berkelium after Berkeley.