American nuclear scientist
Almon Larsh
Almon Larsh was a member of the Berkeley team that discovered lawrencium, element 103, in 1961.
How Lawrencium was found
Lawrencium atoms decay within seconds, so they had to be moved from the target to the detectors almost instantly. The team used a conveyor tape that carried atoms caught from the target past a row of detectors.
The experiment identified the new element from just a few atoms. Its first measurements were later refined, but the discovery stood.
Shared the credit
The discovery is credited jointly to these scientists.
Life and career
Larsh worked at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley on the heavy-ion accelerator programme.
Discovered in the same era
Other elements identified within ten years of 1961.