German nuclear physicist · born 1940
Gottfried Münzenberg
Gottfried Münzenberg is the physicist behind SHIP, the separator that let the GSI laboratory in Darmstadt pick single superheavy atoms out of a torrent of beam particles. He is credited with five elements, from bohrium to roentgenium.
- Elements credited
- 5
- Discoveries
- 1981–1994
- Co-discoverers
- 2
- Where
- Germany
Discovery timeline
1981 · Germany
Bohrium is a synthetic, radioactive element made at the GSI laboratory in Darmstadt.
1982 · Germany
Meitnerium is a synthetic, highly radioactive element. Its first detection rested on a single atom.
1984 · Germany
Hassium is a synthetic, radioactive element and a heavier relative of osmium.
1994 · Germany
Darmstadtium is a synthetic, radioactive element expected to be a heavy relative of platinum.
1994 · Germany
Roentgenium is a synthetic element predicted to be a heavier relative of gold.
The discoveries
Superheavy atoms form perhaps once in billions of collisions, and they fly out of the target mixed with vast numbers of beam ions. Münzenberg worked on the design of the Separator for Heavy Ion reaction Products, which uses electric and magnetic fields to let only the slow-moving fusion products through to the detectors.
With Peter Armbruster’s group he identified bohrium in 1981, meitnerium in 1982 and hassium in 1984. The meitnerium discovery rested on a single atom, confirmed by its distinctive decay chain. In 1994 he was part of the team that found darmstadtium and roentgenium.
Life and career
Münzenberg studied physics at the University of Giessen and spent his career at GSI, where he led the SHIP group and later the work on the fragment separator used to study exotic nuclei.
He has also written widely on how superheavy elements are made and identified.
Also known for
- Co-designer of the SHIP velocity filter
- Research on exotic, neutron-rich nuclei