Lawrencium

HistoryLawrencium was synthesized by Ghiorso, Sikkeland, Larsh and Latimer in 1961 in Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, California. The new element was named after Ernest O. Lawrence. The element has no practical application.

HistoryThe original chemical symbol was proposed as Lw but it was changed because “W” is an unusual occurrence in many languages and it is a cumbersome spoken word. The name derives from Ernest 0. Lawrence American physicist, winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physics for is invention of the cyclotron. Credit for the first synthesis of this element in 1961 is given jointly to American chemists from the University of California laboratory in Berkeley, California Albert Ghiorso, Torbjorn Sikkeland, Almon Larsh, Robert M. Latimer and the Russian scientific team at the JINR (Joint Institute for Nuclear Reactions) lab in Dubna, Russia under Georgi N. Flerov, after a series of preliminary papers presented over a decade. The longest half-life associated with this unstable element is 3.6 hour 262Lr.