Hassium is a highly radioactive chemical element with symbol Hs and atomic number 108. The most stable known isotopes have half-lives of around 10 seconds. Natural occurrences of this superheavy element have been hypothesised, but none has ever been found. The first attempts to artificially prepare element 108 by nuclear fusion began in 1978 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the Soviet Union; though likely successful by 1984, these experiments did not prove conclusively that the element had been synthesised. For this reason, the discovery is principally credited to a team led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung who bombarded lead-208 with iron-58 and produced hassium-265. The name hassium was selected as a reference to the German state of Hesse, where the research was conducted. The observed chemical properties of hassium are consistent with its expected placement as the group 8 element in period 7 of the periodic table.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassium
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1780:
The deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record began to impact the Caribbean, killing at least 20,000 people across the Antilles over the subsequent days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hurricane_of_1780
1914:
World War I: The civilian authorities of Antwerp surrendered, allowing the German army to capture the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Antwerp_%281914%29
2012:
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was severely injured by a Taliban gunman in a failed assassination attempt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
style: 1. (transitive) To call or give a name or title to. 2. (transitive) To create for, or give to, someone a style, fashion, or image, particularly one which is regarded as attractive, tasteful, or trendy. 3. (intransitive, US, informal) To act in a way which seeks to show that one possesses style. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/style
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Instant Karma's gonna get you Gonna knock you off your feet Better recognize your brothers Everyone you meet --John Lennon https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Lennon