The latest video by The History Guy covered the Cold War-era pursuit of creating transfermium elements, or elements found above fermium through the use of advanced techniques like cyclotrons.
The discovery of new elements was often a difficult and costly process, yet it quietly became an important area of focus in the nuclear arms race during the Cold War between the US and USSR.
The two primary actors in this area were the Soviet Lab, the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, and a US lab at Berkeley, with both potentially earning the title of discovering a new element.
The naming of these new elements also became an important act of diplomacy, as shown in the comments on The History Guy’s YouTube video, with post containing additional information on the subject. tweets from users suggesting names like “Hackadaium” to potential future discoveries.
One tweet also provides a link to the official photograph repository of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where the photographs in the relevant YouTube video were sourced. The user also states that the scientists involved would likely have had differing opinions on the qualities of competing Soviet laboratories.
