Superheavy Quotes

“Although the smoke detector is americium’s great contribution to modern living, actinide chemists often joke that they are constantly looking for new ways to ‘make americium great again’.”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“I turn to Oganessian. Despite his discoveries, despite the advances the heaviest elements have brought in decoding our universe, there’s still the greatest question of all. After 60 years in superheavy research, what drives him to continue? Oganessian shrugs. ‘If you have a device that can do this, why not?”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“We have about two-thirds of the world’s supply right now of thorium-229,’ Boll says off-handedly, before moving on. ‘At Oak Ridge?’ ‘Uh, no. Right there. In that bottle. You’re looking at two-thirds of the world’s supply.”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“What better way to forget your troubles than to make some stuff glow in the dark?”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“Today, all modern steel is contaminated by Trinity and the later atomic tests; the process to make it requires large quantities of air and inevitably sucks in some of this radioactive debris. If steel with low background radiation is needed – such as for highly sensitive Geiger counters – the only option is to use steel made before 1945.”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“Thompson’s work ethic was staggering. At one point, he and another researcher, Burris Cunningham, worked 36 hours straight in the lab. Stepping outside, they realised Thompson had misplaced his coat. The exhausted duo spent an age searching around until one of them noticed Cunningham had accidentally put it on over his own.”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“Science and the Golden Bears – Berkeley in a nutshell.”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“We used to put a lot of effort into basic science, things that won’t get you a return on investment now but will lead to major discoveries in 30 or 40 years. We don’t see that as a priority [today]. And you have to ask: is making a new element more important than climate change, or renewable energy? It’s not an easy argument to make. I mean, I’m a heavy element person, and I’d pick renewable energy.”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

“Farrell later recalled. ‘So I took this heavy ball in my hand and felt it glowing warm. I got a sense of its hidden power […] for the first time I began to believe some of the fantastic tales the scientists had told about this “nuclear power”.”
― Kit Chapman, Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table