1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 685 The First International Conference on Nuclear Physics! Ridgway's Astounding Plan! Completing the Periodic Table!
1928 7 Month 25 Day.

The Elenas published their second paper on transuranium.

They used a co-precipitation method, with element lanthanum (element 57) as the precipitant, to successfully precipitate "transuranic elements".

However, when their physicochemical properties were analyzed, it was found that these transuranic elements were more like element 89, actinium.

The result is slightly different from that of element thorium (element 90) in the first paper.

The paper's publication once again shook the field of nuclear physics.

"My God!"

What are the Curies trying to do?

"Isn't the test for transuranic elements? Why are the results all showing elements below uranium?"

"."

This sparked heated discussions in academic circles.

However, before everyone could fully digest it...

Immediately afterwards, Elena's third paper was published.

In this paper, she explored the precipitated "actinium" in greater depth.

But this time, an extremely astonishing discovery was made!

"The fact that the new element can be further separated from actinium indicates that it is not actinium."

"But it can also form a co-precipitate with lanthanum."

"Therefore, the most likely scenario is that the new element is some isotope of lanthanum, element number 57."

"Of course, I still firmly believe in the existence of transuranic elements."

"Perhaps, this is an isotope of a very new transuranic element."

Wow!
The paper caused an immediate uproar after its publication!

Uranium (element 92) somehow produced lanthanum (element 57)?

Wouldn't that be equivalent to splitting a uranium nucleus in two with a single stroke?

how can that be!

"My God!"

"Could a neutron really split such a heavy uranium nucleus in two?"

"This is simply unbelievable!"

"The Curies must have made a mistake in their experiment."

This time, no one dared to agree anymore.

Irene's second paper at least has some credibility.

Through various coincidences, neutrons can bombard a corner of a uranium atom nucleus, forming element 89 or 90.

This does not violate existing theories of nuclear fission.

That is, nuclear fission always produces a new element with an ordinal number close to that of the original element.

However, the viewpoint in the third paper was so shocking that it broke this constraint.

Even Elena herself found it unbelievable.

Therefore, she believed it to be an incomprehensible transuranium element.

Things became increasingly complicated.

Germany.

After reading the paper, Meitner and Hahn immediately shook their heads.

They simply did not believe that neutrons could have such great energy.

Moreover, the atomic nuclei of heavy metal elements cannot be that fragile.

Otherwise, these elements would not exist in nature at all.

After thinking for a moment, Hahn said:
"There's something wrong with the co-precipitation method used by the Curies."

"The precipitate may have originally contained multiple elements, but they only detected lanthanum."

Meitner said:
"Moreover, their papers were clearly published without detailed research."

Hahn teased:
"I guess they were afraid of missing out on another major discovery."

"After all, they had already missed the anti-electron stage before."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

So the two of them, together with Strassmann, began to replicate the experiments of the Elena couple.

They hoped to use the most irrefutable experimental results to refute the third paper.

Italy.

Fermi was also greatly shocked after reading the third paper.

If Elena's experiment is true, then his transuranium element is a complete joke.

However, Colbino nonchalantly remarked:

"Fermi, you need to be confident!"

"These papers prove nothing."

"Everyone is just trying to ride your coattails."

Fermi couldn't say too much in front of the other party.

At this point, Colbino asked:
"By the way, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Colbino was in high spirits after Fermi discovered transuranic elements.

During this period, he frequently visited the research institute.

Fermi said today that he needs his help with something.

Fermi said:

"That's right, Minister."

"I would like to hold an international nuclear physics conference in Rome to discuss the latest research progress in the field of nuclear physics."

"Let's take this opportunity to review the issue of transuranic elements once again."

Fermi was always worried about transuranium.

He wanted to give a definitive conclusion on the matter in the presence of these influential figures.

Wow!
Upon hearing this, Colbino immediately exclaimed excitedly:
"This is a good thing!"

"This kind of international science conference is the best way to demonstrate a country's strength."

This year's Physics Olympiad is also being held in Rome.

However, the importance of the Physics Olympiad is clearly not as great as that of the Nuclear Physics Conference.

Today, Fermi is a trendsetter in the field of nuclear physics.

It is only natural that Italy would host a nuclear physics conference.

Fermi said:

"Then we'll need your support, Minister."

He's not Professor Bruce, who's incredibly wealthy and can afford to host any conference he wants out of his own pocket.

Although Fermi was a professor at the University of Rome, he still needed government support to organize such a large-scale scientific event.

Colbino patted his chest and said:
"Fermi, don't worry."

"I will coordinate with the Italian Academy of Sciences to fully support you."

"In addition, I will also help you get some sponsorships."

“The Volta Foundation even contacted me yesterday, wanting to invest in your lab.”

Upon hearing this, Fermi breathed a sigh of relief.

The Volta Foundation was established in honor of the famous Italian physicist Volta and regularly funds various scientific research activities.

Fermi was not good at socializing, so he asked Colbino to handle many things on his behalf.

Colbino had completely gotten into the rhythm, and he began to arrange things:

"Then set a time for the meeting and send me the list of invitees."

"On behalf of the Italian science education community, I sent invitations to those physicists."

Fermi was moved upon hearing this.

The elder in front of him offered him help without reservation.

In real history, Fermi's professorship was specially arranged for him by Colbino through mediation from various parties.

Two weeks later, news spread like wildfire that Rome, Italy, would host the first International Nuclear Physics Congress.

Enrico Fermi, one of the most popular experimental physicists today, has invited leading nuclear physicists from around the world to gather together to discuss the latest developments in nuclear physics, especially transuranium.

The meeting was scheduled for October 30, 1929.

Clearly, this is Fermi paying homage to the time of the Bruce meeting.

The news sent shockwaves through the academic community. The existence of transuranic elements certainly warrants serious discussion.

Fermi hasn't been wasting his years; he has good personal relationships with many big shots.

There's absolutely no need to worry about a lack of attendees when holding such a large conference.

Li Qiwei and Yu Yin were also among those invited.

However, Yu Yin was not in the mood to be excited about the meeting at this moment.

His research has achieved another extremely significant breakthrough!
Kuching, inside the Atomic Research Institute.

While countless people were rushing to study transuranic elements, trying to break the limitations of the periodic table and find unknown elements.

At Li Qiwei's request, Yu Yin did the opposite of what others did.

"First, complete the periodic table."

There are currently 92 elements in the periodic table.

However, four of these elements have not yet been found.

They are: element 43 [technetium], element 61 [promethium], element 85 [astatine], and element 87 [francium].

Although chemists have not found these four elements, everyone is convinced that they definitely exist.

Furthermore, based on their location, chemists have even predicted their properties and various data such as atomic weight.

All that's left is to find the element itself.

While these four elements are certainly not as important as transuranic elements, finding them would still be a major breakthrough.

In real history, element technetium (element 43) was the first to be discovered.

In 1937, American physicist Lawrence synthesized technetium artificially using the cyclotron he invented.

Technetium was also the first element to be artificially synthesized by humans, so its name means "man-made".

Interestingly, after Lawrence synthesized technetium, he sent it to France for testing.

The person in charge of the testing was Segre from the Fermi Boys.

Later, scientists realized that technetium is almost non-existent on Earth and can only be found inside stars.

The second discovery was element 87, francium.

In 1939, Perri, a female researcher at the French Radium Institute, discovered element 87 while studying the alpha decay products of actinium and began to study it.

This is an extremely unstable radioactive element with a half-life of only 20 minutes, making it very difficult to detect.

To commemorate his homeland, France, Perry named his homeland "Franc".

The third discovery was element 85, astatine.

In 1940, Segre, who had already immigrated to the United States, joined the University of California, Berkeley.

There, he used a cyclotron to accelerate helium nuclei and then bombarded element 83, bismuth, to obtain element 85.

Segre named it "Ai," which means "change."

I don't know what this change means.

Later, scientists finally discovered trace amounts of astatine in uranium ore.

Its content in the Earth's crust is one part per billion (10 billion), making it one of the least abundant elements.

Incidentally, the University of California, Berkeley is far ahead in the field of artificial element synthesis.

Many transuranic elements are synthesized here. (The "Science Pure Land" section will explain this in detail; it's very interesting.)
The last element discovered was promethium, element number 61.

In 1945, researchers at Oak Grove Laboratory in the United States discovered element 61 in the products of artificial uranium nuclear fission.

It was named after Prometheus from Greek mythology, which is "promethium".

After artificial synthesis, scientists hoped to find natural promethium, but have not yet succeeded.

It wasn't until 1965 that 350 milligrams of promethium were extracted from 6000 tons of uranium ore.

The above is the process by which these four elements were discovered, a process filled with twists and turns.

It is worth mentioning that, in the periodic table, all elements after bismuth (element 83) are naturally radioactive.

None of the previous elements were radioactive (radioactive isotopes are not considered).

However, the discovery of element technetium (element 43) and promethium (element 61) broke this pattern. They were also the only two naturally occurring radioactive elements before element 83.

Therefore, their unique properties have many important functions.

Li Qiwei had Yu Yin research this topic in order to accumulate experience in artificially manufacturing elements.

The periodic table is also a crucial part of his theory of everything.

I wonder if anyone has ever thought about this question.

That is: "Does the periodic table have an end?"

The latest periodic table contains 118 elements. Does that mean there are 119, 120, or even larger elements?

If it exists, what is the last element?
There can't possibly be an infinite number of elements in the periodic table.

This is a very critical issue.

There has been no unified correct answer even in later generations.

However, it is also very important, involving several key fundamental physics problems.

The method for creating new elements is the cyclotron!

Li Qiwei said to Yin:

"These four elements clearly have a place in the periodic table, but we just can't find them."

"There are only a few reasons."

"First, this element happens to be absent or present in negligible amounts on Earth."

"Secondly, this element is unstable, may be radioactive, and decays easily."

"Third, we were unlucky and didn't discover it until now."

"So, since we can't find natural ones, let's make them artificial!"

"Now that we have cyclotrons, it's possible to artificially create new elements!"

"Yu Yin, go and give it a try!"

"The transuranium element proposed by Fermi is technically a man-made element, but it has not been fully proven yet."

"Perhaps you are the first to truly realize artificial elements."

Wow!
Yu Yin was deeply shocked at the time.

The dean's methods for handling the problem were too brutal.

If you can't find it, you can make it yourself. That's amazing.

However, Yu Yin knew very well that this was actually the simplest way.

And only he has this ability.

Because such precise experiments require strict control of the bombardment conditions.

Only accelerators can do that.

Yu Yin immediately began preparing for the experiment.

His first target was element 43, for no particular reason, just following the order.

The principle behind artificial synthesis is very simple.

Hydrogen nuclei are accelerated using a cyclotron and then collided with molybdenum, element number 42.

If a hydrogen nucleus can fuse with a molybdenum nucleus, then element 43 can be obtained.

The principle is simple, but it is not so simple to actually do it.

Yu Yin has adjusted the experimental parameters hundreds of times, but still cannot obtain satisfactory collision data.

Having no other option, he had to ask the dean for help again.

After reviewing the experimental data, Li Qiwei suggested:
"The mass of the hydrogen nucleus is too small. Let's try replacing it with a deuterium nucleus."

Yu Yin did as instructed, and this time, he finally made a different discovery.

After bombarding a molybdenum target with a large number of deuterium nuclei, he discovered a completely new silvery-white metal that shone with a captivating luster.

Molybdenum is a dark gray substance, so this silvery-white metal is clearly a completely new element.

Then there is only one possibility.

"It is the element 43 that everyone has been searching for!"

Wow!
Yu Yin looked excited.

He immediately told the dean the good news.

When Li Qiwei learned of this, he smiled slightly.

For Yin, this was not a difficult task.

The discovery of element 43 is more symbolic than the element itself.

Therefore, he calmly said:
"good."

(End of this chapter)