From Transuranic to Superheavy Elements

A Story of Dispute and Creation

Helge Kragh (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

VIII, 106 Seiten

2018 | 1st ed. 2018
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-75812-1 (ISBN)

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The story of superheavy elements - those at the very end of the periodic table - is not well known outside the community of heavy-ion physicists and nuclear chemists. But it is a most interesting story which deserves to be known also to historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science and indeed to the general public. This is what the present work aims at. It tells the story or rather parts of the story, of how physicists and chemists created elements heavier than uranium or searched for them in nature. And it does so with an emphasis on the frequent discovery and naming disputes concerning the synthesis of very heavy elements. Moreover, it calls attention to the criteria which scientists have adopted for what it means to have discovered a new element. In this branch of modern science it may be more appropriate to speak of creation instead of discovery. The work will be of interest to scientists as well as to scholars studying modern science from a meta-perspective.

Helge Kragh, born in Copenhagen in 1944, studied mathematics and physics at the University of Copenhagen. He holds two doctorates, one in the sciences and the other in the humanities. Kragh's research interests are in the history of physics from the mid-19th century onward, the history of astronomy, the history of cosmology and the history of chemistry, often with a preference for interdisciplinary fields such as cosmochemistry, physical chemistry or physical cosmology. Kragh is a co-founder of the European Society for the History of Science and served as its president in 2008-2010. He is Professor Emeritus at the Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen.

"This concisely written book provides wonderful discussions on the discovery, verification, and disputes surrounding all twenty-six tranuranic elements. ... From Transuranic to Superheavy Elements is geared to historians of science, chemists, and physicists, rather than a general audience." (Howard G. Barth, Isis, Vol. 110 (1), March, 2019)

“This concisely written book provides wonderful discussions on the discovery, verification, and disputes surrounding all twenty-six tranuranic elements. … From Transuranic to Superheavy Elements is geared to historians of science, chemists, and physicists, rather than a general audience.” (Howard G. Barth, Isis, Vol. 110 (1), March, 2019)

Erscheinungsdatum	03.03.2018
Reihe/Serie	SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology
Zusatzinfo	VIII, 106 p. 2 illus.
Verlagsort	Cham
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	190 g
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
Schlagworte	Creation of elements • Discovery of new elements • Heavy-ion Research • Names of Elements • Nuclear chemistry • periodic table • superheavy elements • Transuranic Elements • Transuranium Elements
ISBN-10	3-319-75812-8 / 3319758128
ISBN-13	978-3-319-75812-1 / 9783319758121
Zustand	Neuware