AmericiumHistory of Americium
Glenn Seaborg, Ralph James, L. Morgan, and Albert Ghiorso discovered americium during the Manhattan project in 1944. Americium was a by-product of the testing with the atomic bomb. Seaborg and the Argonne National Laboratory at the University of Chicago were in search of new heavier elements despite the distractions of World War II. Some speculated that by finding such heavier elements, they could gain an advantage with chemical weaponry, especially because just before the discovery of americium, plutonium and neptunium emerged as vital elements to both the scientific and military worlds.
Americium was actually discovered along side element number 96 (Curium). In fact, they were discovered in reverse order. Unlike curium, americium was created by bombarding plutonium with neutrons. In doing that they first discovered the americium isotope 241. The key to the success in discovering such new elements as these was the knowledge that they would have similar properties to the heavier rare earth metals.
Upon its discovery americium was named thus because it had many similarities to the rare-earth metal, europium. Since europium was named after the continent of Europe (place of discovery) the same was done for americium. I sense a little chemist’s rivalry.
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Americium
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