Superheavy: The Making And Breaking Of The Periodic Table, by Kit Chapman

This book was not quite what I expected it to be, and not in a good way. What I expected from this book was a narrative account of the discovery of scientific elements that was heavy on the science, and what I got was something that was more political in nature, of a kind that I did not particularly appreciate, and one that was a bit more soap operatic than was probably necessary to tell the tale well. The author shows off a bit too much about his ability to travel to places most other people do not get to see in the course of talking about the various laboratories and scientists responsible for the discovery and manufacture of the heaviest and rarest and shortest-lived elements on the periodic table, and even the drama about how these elements were to be named. The author seems to revel in this drama, all the while clearly showing favoritism for certain sorts of people, making it clear that the author and I are on very opposite sides, to be sure, of the contemporary culture wars, something I did not think it was necessary for the author to be so irritating about.

There are many ways that one can tell the same sort of story, and in my opinion, this author chooses a less than optimal way of telling the story of scientists and their efforts to discover elements, all of which involve the development of very particular processes that are designed to create and recognize very short-lived isotopes of superheavy elements which have no practical use or benefit that we have ever been able to discover, at often incredible expense, for what seems in this book to be little more than a penile measuring contest between laboratories, nations, and even individual scientists. (It goes without saying that the scientists involved are mostly male, and that those who are women tend to be the feminist sort, at least as described by this author.) Some of the stories that the author tells in order to humanize the scientists and make them seem more relatable often tend to reduce the respect that one has for the institutions involved in such expensive research and expose them to reasonable criticism for their actions. In some cases, the author speaks about scandals that seem to reflect badly on people who do not appear to take or necessarily have the ability to defend themselves in providing their own side of the story, for what it’s worth. That said, there are certainly elements here, in more way that one, for a truly compelling story even if the author does not quite manage to provide as good a story as could have been written.

In terms of its contents, this book is made up of 21 numbered chapters in 3 parts that covers a bit less than 300 pages of core material. This book begins with a preface and introduction that show the human (and not always praiseworthy) side of the author and how he got interested in the science of the discovery of new elements. The first part of the book, discussing the beginnings of the atomic age, then follow (I), with chapters on the modern alchemy of fission, fusion, and decay (1), the secrets of Cal Berkley’s Gilman Hall (2), how one builds a nuclear weapon (3), how Superman ran afoul of censors relating to nuclear insights (4), Cal Berkley’s role in postwar element discovery (5), the death of Jimmy Robinson and what it meant as far as scientific discovery (6), and the relationship of science and Cold War politics in the United States (7). After this, the author moves to a discussion of the Transfermium Wars, part of the Cold War (II), with chapters on Nobelieum (8), Russian efforts under Flurov of overcoming their own technical shortcomings (9), the conflict between East and West (10), Xanthasia and the supposed magic numbers of stability (11), life at the edge of science (12), the atoms that became fought over in the Cold War (13), how the rules were changed about the discovery and recognition of new elements (14), and then the struggle over how elements were to be named and credited (15). The third part of the book then examines the end of Chemistry (III), with chapters on what happened after the end of the Cold War (16), the Ninov fraud (17), the new hope of various labs (18), Japan’s efforts at entering the contest (19), and looking at the edge of unknown elements (20) and what happens when one moves beyond superheavy elements (21). The book closes with an epilogue, references, acknowledgements, and an index.