American nuclear scientist
Robert M. Latimer
Robert Latimer was one of the four scientists credited with discovering lawrencium in 1961.
How Lawrencium was found
Latimer worked on the detection side of the experiment, measuring alpha particles from atoms caught on the moving tape. The team had to rule out every known isotope that might produce similar signals before claiming element 103.
Lawrencium completed the actinide series, the row Seaborg had predicted 17 years earlier.
Shared the credit
The discovery is credited jointly to these scientists.
Life and career
Latimer was a member of Albert Ghiorso’s heavy-element group at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.
Discovered in the same era
Other elements identified within ten years of 1961.