American nuclear chemist · 1918–2008
Lawrence E. Glendenin
Lawrence Glendenin co-discovered promethium in 1945, as part of the wartime team at Oak Ridge studying the products of uranium fission.
How Promethium was found
Glendenin worked on identifying the dozens of radioactive isotopes produced when uranium splits. In this mixture he, Jacob Marinsky and Charles Coryell found isotopes that belonged to element 61, which they separated by ion-exchange chromatography.
Their result filled the last gap among the rare earths. Previous claims, named illinium and florentium after the labs that made them, had all proved mistaken.
Shared the credit
The discovery is credited jointly to these scientists.
Life and career
Born 1918 · Died 2008
Glendenin went on to work for many years at Argonne National Laboratory, where he became a leading authority on the fission of heavy elements.
Discovered in the same era
Other elements identified within ten years of 1945.