Science: Nervous Elements

At the Manhattan meeting of the American Chemical Society last week, two novel elements made radioactive bows. One was man-made curium, No. 96 in the periodic table and the heaviest element known. The creation of curium was announced in 1945 (TIME, Nov. 26, 1945). But the element was not "isolated" (purified chemically) until recently. The world's total supply, prepared by Drs. Isadore Perlman and L. B. Werner of the University of California, is barely big enough to be seen with the naked eye.

No. 96. Like all the four known artificial elements,† curium is...

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