The term ‘‘magic’’ was continually used—Seaborg and others spoke of a magic ridge, a magic mountain, a magic island of elements. This vision came to haunt the imagination of physicists the world over. Whether or not it was scientifically important, it became psychologically imperative to reach, or at least to sight, this magic territory. There were undertones of other allegories as well—the island of stability could be seen as a topsy-turvy, Alice-in-Wonderland realm where bizarre and gigantic atoms lived their strange lives. Or, more wistfully, the island of stability could be imagined as a
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