Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Mystery of Glenn Seaborg's Missing Plutonium: Solved

Posted by Soulskill on from the in-his-other-pants dept.

KentuckyFC writes: In the early 1940s, Glenn Seaborg made the first lump of plutonium by bombarding uranium-238 with neutrons in two different cyclotrons for over a year, The resulting plutonium, chemically separated and allowed to react with oxygen, weighed 2.77 micrograms. It was the first macroscopic sample ever created and helped win Seaborg a Nobel prize ten years later. The sample was displayed at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley until the early naughties, when it somehow disappeared. Now nuclear detectives say they've found Seaborg's plutonium and have been able to distinguish it from almost all other plutonium on the planet using a special set of non-destructive tests. The team says the sample is now expected to go back on display at Seaborg's old office at Berkeley.

3 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Special non destructive test? by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 3, Funny

    They weighed it?

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
    1. Re:Special non destructive test? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      What I want to know is which will work best in my space modulator? It was only design for 36.

  2. I recall.... by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 5, Funny

    the early naughties, those were the good ole days.