Einsteinium: 100 years after Einstein’s Nobel Prize, researchers reveal chemical secrets of element that bears his name
Explosive findings
Einsteinium (Es) is the 99th element in the periodic table. It was first discovered in 1952 when a thermonuclear device dubbed “Ivy Mike” was detonated on the island of Elugelab in the Pacific Ocean (now part of the Marshall Islands). Ivy Mike’s detonation was the first demonstration of a hydrogen bomb. Such a blast creates four times more energy than nuclear fission bombs (like those dropped on Japan in 1945) and four million times more energy than the burning of a similar amount of coal.