Nobel Institute

The isotope produced was the 20-hour 255Fm. During 1953 and early 1954, while discovery of elements 99 and 100 was withheld from publication for security reasons, a group from the Nobel Institute of Physics in Stockholm bombarded 238U with 160 ions, and isolated a 30-min alpha-emitter, which they ascribed to 250-100, without claiming discovery of the element. This isotope has since been identified positively, and the 30-min half-life confirmed. 

Xhe first claim for element 102 was in 1957 by an international team working at the Nobel Institute for Physics in Stockholm. Their results could not be confirmed but their suggested name for the element was accepted. 

Private communication from Dr. U. Berglund-Larsson, Nobel Institute of Chemistry, Stockholm, Sweden. 

These elements have all been named for famous scientists or for the places of their creation. For example, americium, berkelium, and californium were named after obvious geographical locations. Nobelium was named for the Nobel Institute, although later study proved it was not really created there. Curium was named for Marie Curie, the discoverer of radium. Einsteinium was named for the famous physicist, Albert Einstein. Fermium and lawrencium were named for Enrico Fermi and Ernest O. Lawrence, who made important discoveries in the field of radioactivity. Mendelevium was named for the discoverer of the periodic chart. 

On the prizes and physical chemistry, see Elisabeth Crawford, "Arrhenius, the Atomic Hypothesis, and the 1908 Nobel Prizes," 503522 and The Beginnings of the Nobel Institution. The Science Prizes, 19011915 (Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1984). 

The Beginnings of the Nobel Institution. The Science Prizes, 19011915. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1984. 

Three groups had roles in the discovery of nobelium. First, scientists at the Nobel Institute of Physics in Stockholm, Sweden, used a cyclotron to bombard Cu-244 with heavy carbon gC-13 (which is natural carbon-12 with one extra neutron). They reported that they produced an isotope of element 102 that had a half-life of 10 minutes. In 1958 the team at Lawrence Laboratory at Berkeley, which included Albert Ghiorso, Glenn Seaborg, John Walton, and Torbjorn Sikkeland, tried to duplicate this experiment and verify the results of the Nobel Institute but with no success. Instead, they used the Berkeley cyclotron to bombard cerium-... 

Fermium was formally discovered in 1954 at the Nobel Institute for Physics in Stockholm. It was synthesized in 1952 in the Material Testing Reactor in Idaho, but the discovery was not announced. The new element was named in honor of Enrico Fermi. There is no commercial application of this element because its yield is in extremely minute quantities. It has been detected in debris from thermonuclear explosion. 

In 1957 a group of scientists at the Argonne Laboratory, the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, England, and the Nobel Institute for Physics in Stockholm announced the isolation of element 102 (103). They proposed the name nobelium for this element. However, workers at the University of California Radiation Laboratory could not confirm this claim (104), but did identify the isotope 102254 which they obtained by bombardment of Cm246 with C12 ions in the linear accelerator. They did not immediately propose a name to replace the name nobelium (105). 

The pertinent part of the story thus lies between 1915 and 1940. In order to appreciate it, we must detail some aspects of Gomberg s discovery, know a deal about the Nobel committee for chemistry and its decision-making procedures as laid down by the statutes and by internal rules, and see how Gomberg s work was analyzed and judged in the light of this complex system of rules. In the process, we will also deal with a few other pioneers of radical chemistry and their relationship to the Nobel institution, namely W. Schlenk, F. Paneth and, briefly, M.S. Kharasch. 

FERMIUM. ICAS 7440-72-4). Chemical element symbol Fm. at. no. 100. at. wt. 257 (mass number of the most stable isotope), radioactive metal of the Actinide series, also one of the Transuranium elements. During Ihe period 1953- 1954. a group of scientists at the Nobel Institute of Physics (Stockholm) bombarded U with l60 ions, producing and isolating a 30-min alpha emitter. Ibis was called -5"l(X). However, discovery of element 100 was noi claimed at that time. Subsequently, the isotope was identified and the 30-miu half-lile conlirmed. Both fermium and einsteinium were formed in a thermonuclear explosion that occurred in the South Pacific in 1952. The elements were identified by scientists from the University of California s Radiation Laboratory, the Argonne National Laboratory, and die Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. It was observed that very heavy uranium isutopes lhal resulted from the action of the instantaneous neutron flux cm uranium (conlaincd in the explosive device) decayed lo form Es and Fm, The probable electronic configuration of... 

Over the years, with the addition of new prize categories, the governors of tire Nobel Foundation necessarily have amended certain procedures. The Foundation is governed by a five-person board of control made up of one appointment by the King of Sweden and one each as appointed by the aforementioned organizations (now referred to as Nobel Institutes). Members of the selection board are appointed for a period of 4 years, The science awards are presented on December 10 (anniversary of Nobel s death) ofeachyearat the Stockholm Concert Hall, with personal felicitation of the King of Sweden, The Peace prize is presented in a formal ceremony in Oslo. 

On the way home Arrhenius was offered a professorship of chemistry at the Berlin Academy of Sciences, the same honor which van t Hoff had previously accepted. King Oscar II of Sweden planned a more tempting offer to keep him at home. The King founded the Nobel Institute for Physical Research at Stockholm, and Arrhenius was made director. Oxford and Cambridge honored him with degrees. 

In the early part of 1927, when Arrhenius was past sixty-eight, his advanced age and failing health compelled him to retire from the Directorship of the Nobel Institute. Sweden honored him without stint. He was granted a full pension for the remainder of his life. But scarcely had he left the Institute when news reached the world that this great figure had joined the eternal caravan of those who had watched the crucible. After a public funeral at Stockholm, his body was taken to Upsala and buried near the University of Berzelius and Linnaeus. His life adds testimony to the native genius of Sweden. 

I did not leave the U.S.A. until I became a citizen in 1958. Then I decided to return to Sweden and spend a sabbatical year in 1959-1960 at the Nobel Institute for Cytology in Stockholm. The Institute s Director was Tornbjorn Casperson, one of the pioneers of nucleic acid cytochemistry. I worked there closely with Gunnar Bloom, a well-known fine structure researcher. I needed to learn more electron microscopy because, upon my return, I planned to start using the electron microscope to explore the structure of hyaluronan and the cartilage and the soft tissues of the joint, as well as the cells of the vitreus which I named hynlocytes, because they produce hyaluronan. 

The answer is found in a series of studies begun by Lars Melander (of the Nobel Institute of Chemistry, Stockholm) and extended by many other workers. A variety of aromatic compounds labeled w ith deuterium or tritium were subjected to nitration, bromination, and Friedel-Crafts alkylation. It was found that in these reactions deuterium or tritium is replaced at the same rate as protium there is no significant isotope effect. 

Arrhenius became director of the Nobel Institute of Physical Chemistry in Stockholm in 1905, a post he held until a few months before his death. He married Maria Johansson, his second wife, and had one son and two daughters. The following year he also had time to publish three books Theories of Chemistry, Immunochemistry, and Worlds in the Making. 

Nobel Foundation. A private institution established in 1900 based on the will of Alfred Nobel. The Foundation manages the assets made available through the will for the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. It represents the Nobel institutions externally and administers informational activities and arrangements surrounding the presentation of the Nobel Prize. The Foundation also administers Nobel symposia in the different prize areas. Its address is Box 5232, SE-102 45 Stockholm, Sweden. 

Bohr, N., Meddelanden fran k. Vetenskapsakademiens Nobel Institute, 5,1919, No. 28. 

Department of Neuroscience Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology Karolinska Institutet S-171 77 Stockholm Sweden... 

The discovery of element 102 was reported at the Nobel Institute for Physics in Stockholm in 1957, but experiments to date attempting to confirm its discovery have not been successful. The element was produced and positively identified, however, at the U.C. Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley in April 1958. It was made by bombarding curium (containing 96 protons) with carbon ions (containing 6 protons). 

Svante Arrhenius was born near Uppsala in Sweden. He became Professor of Physics at Stockholm in 1895 and a director of the Nobel Institute of Physical Chemistry (Stockholm) in 1905,... 

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