The target was tinytwo-millionths of an ounce of a heavy, man-made isotope. The "bullets" were even smaller atomic nuclei fired by an atom smasher. But the results of the experiment which were reported last week at a Washington meeting of the American Physical Society, made big news in the world of nuclear physics. A new chemical element, No. 105, has been created and identified.
After setting up sophisticated detectors to monitor their results, a team ol physicists led by Albert Ghiorso used the University of California's Lawrence Radiation Laboratory's heavy-ion linear accelerator (HILAC) to shoot nitrogen 15 nuclei with an energy...
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