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109. MeitneriumName: Meitnerium
Element 109, meitnerium, is a synthetic element that is not present in the environment at all. Meitnerium was first synthesized on August 29, 1982 by a German research team led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Munzenberg at the Institute for Heavy Ion Research at Darmstadt. The team did this by bombing a target of bismuth-209 with accelerated nuclei of iron-58. The creation of this element demonstrated that nuclear fusion techniques could be used to make new, heavy nuclei. The name meitnerium was suggested in honor of the Austrian-Swedish physicist and mathematician Lise Meitner, but there was an element naming controversy as to what the elements from 101 to 109 were to be called; thus IUPAC adopted unnilennium (symbol Une) as a temporary, systematic element name. However in 1997 they resolved the dispute and adopted the current name. Quick links
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