The man who tried to fake an element

@BobbyBroccoli - 2022-10-19

The rumours are indeed true, I have a Twitter and Patreon. Check the description for the links. Also, ask me questions for my (very delayed) Q&A!

FOOTNOTES BELOW, THEY HAVE SPOILERS SO BEST READ AFTER WATCHING
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1. You’ll notice I didn’t mention a neutrino as part of the beta-minus decay. This is partly because I was lazy, but also because the neutrino wasn’t a widely accepted concept at that point, and Fermi actually had a paper rejected for trying to account for its existence.

2. The nuclide half-life data included in my version of the chart was sourced from NuBASE 2020, Chinese Physics C45, 030001 (2021). This dataset distinguishes between known half-lives, estimated half-lives, and nuclides whose half-lives are so small that they are unknown. I removed the nuclides with unknown half-lives for my chart. See the link in the description for an interactive version of the table.

3. Only a select number of isotopes on the nuclide chart have labels. I labelled every stable isotope (in brown), and for the unstable isotopes I only labelled the one with the longest half-life for each element. Note that the isotope with the longest half-life is not necessarily the one that was created for each element discovery.

4. The half-lives on the 3D nuclide chart are not plotted linearly (or logarithmically for that matter) as it would be impossible to show the differences between half-lives in the realm of nanoseconds and half-lives in the realm of years in a way that didn’t completely flatten half the chart. The standard way to plot them is to use the quantile method, where you take all the values (~3000) and rank them from smallest to largest, which the height of each pillar being their rank (so 1, 2, 3…3000). I then made a color gradient using 10 distinct colours, and if a pillar was in the first 10% of the population they got the darkest blue, the next 10% got a lighter blue, etc.

5. The following elements were first synthesized in labs before they were discovered in trace amounts in nature: Technetium, promethium, astatine, neptunium, and plutonium. For many years it was assumed that Uranium was the heaviest naturally occurring element, but this was actually disproven by Darleane Hoffman, when she found trace amounts of Plutonium-244 in ancient pieces of rock.

6. The Lanthanides and Actinides (the two seemingly detached rows of the periodic table) are a bit misleading. They’re put below the main table for space reasons, but really they fit right in the middle of the table next to Barium and Radium, leading to a table that is comically wide, too wide to be printed cleanly in a textbook. It should be noted that the periodic table during Fermi’s time didn’t look like the modern one I showed in the video. For a long time the correct position of the Actinide and Lanthanide groups were a bit of a mystery. It was actually Glenn Seaborg’s suggestion in the mid-1950s that put them where they are today, which was one of his most important contributions to chemistry.
7. Berkeley should technically also have a claim to element 43, but they just didn’t realize it. Emilio Segre, one of Fermi’s protégés, borrowed a spare filter from one of Berkeley’s accelerators. He found a lump of element 43 on it that they had unknowingly created, and he got the credit for detecting it. Many labs other than Berkeley worked to fill in the gaps of the periodic table, as well as filling in the gaps in the nuclide chart. Finding new elements gets you the glory, but finding new isotopes is also important for getting a full understanding of an elements properties.

8.If we’re being technical a superheavy element is one which has an atomic number greater than 103. This term distinguishes them from elements 90-103 which make up the Actinide series. In my version of the periodic table I group every element above 103 in the same category for simplicity, but there are other ways you could group them. If you check with Google for example they actually call 104 to 108 part of the transition metals, and everything higher is considered unknown. In theory everything up to 112 should also be part of the transition metals, but that’s mostly going off of the table’s columns and not so much measured observations.

9. The price for one gram of an element is going to vary a lot depending on the specific isotope. Also Einsteinium isn’t commercially available to buy anyway, and it’s only ever been produced in the order of micrograms, so Jeff Bezos couldn’t just drop $27 million out of nowhere.

10. The California town of Livermore is home to another strange oddity. A firehouse contains the world’s longest burning lightbulb. It’s been going since 1901. It could burn out tomorrow, or maybe even 15754 years from now.

11. Technically it’s 221 totals winners for the Nobel prize in physics now, didn’t beat the announcement for this year.

12. Masataka Ogawa seems to have misidentified element 75 as element 43 back in 1908 (both of which were undiscovered at the point). Both elements are in the same column but different rows, so the chemical properties would be similar. If it had been correctly identified Japan would have 2 elements under its belt, not just 1.

13. During the IUPAC naming section I mention that 9 elements needed official names, even though I only show 8 getting named. When writing this I forgot that Mendelevium was not officially recognized as the name for #101 until 1997, even though Berkeley had the only real claim to it. IUPAC just lumped it in with the rest of the contentious elements (102-106).

14. Lawrence Livermore Labs had in fact teamed up with Berkeley for the discoveries of prior elements, so they were not new to the element hunt. However their team-up with Dubna gave them a huge leg-up over Berkeley and eventually made them the leading US lab in the element hunt.

15. Victor Ninov was fired in May 2002, but the public retraction of the paper did not go through until July 2002. It was only at this point that the media picked up on the story. Berkeley initially did not name Ninov as the reason for the retraction but the media was able to put 2 and 2 together.

16. Flerovium is technically not named after Georgy Flerov. The Americans refused to let an element be named after someone who was integral to developing the first Soviet nuclear weapon, so the element is actually named after the Flerov Laboratory (which itself, it named after the man).

17. I mention in the first chapter that it was a group in Berlin that figured out Fermi’s mistake, and explained it by describing nuclear fission. This group included Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner. Hahn went on to win the Nobel for this, while Meitner did not, despite being nominated a few dozen times (Hahn and Meitner were good friends, so he wasn’t happy about this either). It’s one of the most clear-cut cases of sexism in the Nobel ceremony’s history. To make up for this, she is now the namesake for element 109, one of only two women to have that honour.

@thirdwheel1985au - 2023-10-27

"Hey, uh, Fermi? I've got good news and bad news. Bad news, you didn't make new elements. Good news, you created a whole new branch of science."

@finn596 - 2023-01-31

I completely forgot this was about a fake element, I got so invested in the element race

@syrup.mp4 - 2023-11-06

science is insanely interesting when you're not being forced to learn it

@quietdignityandgrace - 2023-10-29

That poor woman Darlene.
They screwed her around early in her career, pushed out again at a landmark moment, only to be kicked in the gut towards the end of her profession. Damn shame.

@colorfulchameleon9891 - 2023-01-31

It must've been a real roller coaster of emotions to win the Nobel Prize for the elements you discovered, then be told you didn't find new elements, only to then be told you just... exploded a whole atom.

@LimpPickle. - 2022-10-30

The only decay chain that Ninov actually witnessed was that of his own credibility.

@m.streicher8286 - 2023-10-10

Thank you Fermi for a world without the element "fascium".

@Ms9999Christina - 2024-02-12

21:06 "so true bestie" in regards to an Einstein quote took me tf out

@dionyseez - 2022-10-21

My takeaway from these documentaries is that the most dangerously tempting source in physics is "I made that shit up"

@brodymaxidk3003 - 2022-11-11

Imagine being a student while all this was happening, gotta keep re-memorizing the periodic table

@imadequate3376 - 2023-09-23

R.I.P. Albert Ghiorso, the man who discovered 12 elements.

1915-2010.

@Winn_Or_Lose - 2023-10-03

I’ve watched this video countless time but I just realized that the weird signal you mention at 36:58 is ninov’s attempt to fake 112 you talked about later at 1:07:10. This video is so well made!

@VorizonBeatsKids - 2022-11-26

The fact that this entire documentary was filmed on two locations: The periodic table, and the timeline is so impressive, considering how interesting it is

@tommykarrick9130 - 2023-08-11

Nobody has considered the possibility that the reason Ninov kept happening to detect new elements whenever he was around, and the detections stopped when he left, is because his body simply emits exotic matter

@CommieGIR - 2023-09-25

Worth noting: While Enrico Fermi discovered Fission, he dismissed it outright until Hahn and Meitner confirmed it themselves, and then he realized what he'd done.

@franciskafayeszter4138 - 2023-10-10

I was learning chemistry in school around at that time. We had a periodic table on the wall went until 108 or 109 (I don't remember clearly, I only remember, that bohrium was already there, but I'm not sure about hassium and meitnerium). The one in the textbook went further but elements 110-118 were kinda funny: they had dotted lines and their names were stuff like unununium and ununpentium - basically the Latin name of their number. I asked my teacher, why these ones aren't featured on the periodic table on the wall and why they look and are named different than the others (I also learned Latin in school, so I knew where they names came from). My teacher said, that elements are still discovered to this day and there are some arguments about how they should be named, that's why they use these placeholder names. This was the time, when rutherfordium was still called kurchatovium in some textbooks (I grew up in a former Eastern Bloc country), so we were aware of naming controversies. I've never thought, that my teacher was refering to this, when he was talking about "some arguments"... On the other hand, it's understandable, that he doesn't wanted to talk about a still ongoing scandal in the scientific world with a group of 13 year olds who just started to learn chemistry.

@atanasmladenov6090 - 2022-10-25

As a bulgarian i just want to say, faking an element is the most bulgarian thing ever

@samdragonborn5864 - 2023-01-07

Fermi’s story was fascinating like, imagine trying to discover something and then being like “actually you’ve discovered a new form of energy and also have enabled the creation of a great and terrible weapon that will end the war”

@AnimaDweller - 2024-01-25

Sometimes its easy to forget just how fascinating everything is. Being able to have a visual representation of the elements is just a tiny part of what composes everything.
It's a bit overwhelming knowing that we live in harmony between so much things that happen all around us without even noticing it.

@leoxin6853 - 2023-12-29

Amazing way to drag us in — you want to reach somewhere in a raging sea, and you have historical figures of your captain. After you make it, they give you an entertaining story of a dramatic event involving fraud, and then they close the book with the final phrase “We do it because why not?” Amazing video!

@mr.floofles3100 - 2022-10-23

I hope this doesn’t get buried, but my dad was one of those people working at Berkeley at that time! You can see his name on the paper at 48:44, J.B. Patin. As I was watching the video, I was talking to him about it, and he mentioned, “being on a balcony with Sigurd in a city somewhere it Switzerland” when Sigurd confided in him that he looked back at Ninov’s old work. It’s so crazy to get recommended this video after hearing parts of this story FOR YEARS. Amazing video!

@Boyhethic - 2022-10-29

That part where he said " He didnt create a new element but nuclear fission " gave me goosebumps

@MagykLouise - 2024-01-07

This video kicked ass. I’ll admit that it’s been recommended to me by YT for awhile now, and I kept assuming that it wouldn’t be a story interesting enough for an 80min runtime. That was wrong!
You told this story beautifully, balancing the technical science of these discoveries with the stories of the humans behind them. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, as much as I could while operating a sewing machine. And your use of graphics was perfect; just the right amount of graphics organized to keep the beats of the story accessible in mind and provide context to their relation in time. Also the 3D isotope table was such a cool way of visualizing them!
10/10, will watch again.

@BeautySnake - 2023-11-12

Every once in a while I find myself coming back to this video because it's so well made. I never do that for video essays. You've definitely become one of my favorite channels!

@lixyororke - 2023-03-25

I love youtube for the sheer fact that you can sit down to watch a highly polished 1+ hour long thoroughly technical documentary, then during the intro you can see "presented by bobbybroccoli". incredible. it's like going to the theatre and seeing "directed by xXsniperwolfXx"

@sportswithlitty - 2022-10-21

Fun fact! The University of Texas has a big drum used by the university band at football games. Her name's Big Bertha and she's mildly radioactive because she originally belonged to the University of Chicago and was ALSO under those football bleachers along with Fermi.

@Mr_Wigglesworth - 2023-10-28

22:45 $0.13 you say... I may not have a brain gentlemen, but I have an idea.

@capretacc2 - 2023-11-03

This is hands down, one of the best documentaries/video essays i have ever watched in my not very few 13 years of living. I have only recently gotten interested in physics/chemistry and this type of content only pushes my interest further. Thanks for making this!

@griffinhewlett7308 - 2023-07-30

The idea of Seaborg living in old age with an element named after him makes me believe in happy endings

@Trigger0x10c - 2023-08-29

Btw actually writing to Stalin directly wasn't uncommon in the USSR. My great grandma used to write to him asking him to deploy her on the naval ship instead of as an infantry unit (she was a medic and I shit you not her reason for redeploying her was to meet a captain/admiral and marry him, AND IT WORKED!) Another time she wrote because she wanted a flat in St. Petersburg, which was also granted to her.
She wasn't even remotely as important as Georgii Flyorov, it boggles the mind, but people actually just wrote to Stalin to ask him to do some shit, and they would get a response usually.
I'm not writing this to undermine your work btw, I love your videos. I just felt like the reality of writing to Stalin was so bizarre I had to share it

@manthak377 - 2023-11-08

This video was so compelling that I just had to leave a comment. I loved the analogies of searing and mountaineering, and how you kept cycling back to them. It really helped tie things together (and of course the pun with Seaborg being the captain of the ship lol)
This was a great watch, I look forward to seeing what you make in the future!

@bartg5418 - 2023-10-17

These documentaries are incredible. I love how you are able to give intuitive explanations of science without distracting from the human side of all of these stories. It's all perfect, the storytelling, narration, visuals, everything. It clearly took a lot of hard work and talent to produce something like this. Thanks for everything you do.

@joemclaughlin8657 - 2023-01-10

I worked in this lab about 10 years after this incident. I have my name on a couple papers, including the 2009 confirmation of element 114 (yes, partially for simply monitoring the cyclotron, although I did some other stuff was well 😂). I was so pleased to see Darleane Hoffman get a positive shout out; she is a wonderful woman and actively participated in lab group meetings while I was around. This incident was never mentioned to me in the course of my work — I learned about it randomly in a separate context while I was working in the lab. I haven’t had a chance to watch the entire video, but look forward to going through in detail.

@Sunerte - 2023-02-22

I genuinely feel so bad for Darlene, all of that hard work for her to get her hopes up and just to find out it was all for nothing.

@milt6885 - 2023-10-02

I'm not chemistry fan myself but this video just made me sit through an 1 hour and 18 min of an element race.... that basically was made for "fun" and curiosity to the point of just lab rivalry and it was just Soo interesting to see, and God if I was completely interested and on those times when it happened I would be bamboozled completely. Just the most interesting video essay I'll see
Good job made with the explanations of all of it to the single atom to protons got be whole Island of elements and you just made it so easy to comprehend, making it feel like a soap opera ( at least to me)
Hope you keep the good work and keep making videos in in such an interesting way

@yumikoarakawa437 - 2023-09-24

I just discovered you yesterday and I'm binge watching in between preps for lectures. You have such clarity in discussing scientific ideas plus a real clear voice in story telling. Truly golden! Science is always fascinating, so sad that usually discussions about science (and scientists) are often presented rather boring (especially at schools) when they make such great stories...

Keep it up! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

@matthew_w98 - 2022-10-21

Bobby doesn't have to explain the science to us, he could just give us a layman's rundown of the drama, but he puts in the work to teach us anyways. 10/10 quality edutainment. We stan a king.

@doug1olson - 2022-10-30

I’m surprised to see this on YouTube but you have done a good job of describing the situation. I was part of the small team at Berkeley doing computer forensic analysis of Victor’s computers to try and figure out what happened. In the end there were text editor log files that showed him manipulating the data to create the results he wanted. I was surprised he was not smart enough to delete those log files.

@JDoodles - 2023-10-02

This was such a fascinating video. As someone who has always admired science from a distance, I was intrigued when I saw it pop up on my recommended. Definitely not disappointed and was so worth the watch! You made everything incredibly easy to understand and it was way more entertaining and digestible than anything I ever learned in my actual chemistry classes.

Thank you so much for sharing all this and for putting so much effort into this video! It’s definitely one of the best video essays I’ve seen in a while, fantastic job.

@hotcardog - 2023-10-25

i saw this last year as soon as it was published ,im from italy precisely Modena and i go to enrico fermi's school ,after this video i got inspired to do the chemestry triennium . Bobby you lighted the spark for my love for chemistry and curiousity to it . Stay safe and keep doing good content 👍

@braydenbanks4228 - 2022-11-01

This genuinely felt like a documentary that would be shown in a high school science class, Great Job.

@CanadianPianoMan - 2023-06-07

I was actually so excited when you mentioned we needed a captain I started yelling "SHOW ME SEABORG" and started cheering when I was right.

@speckled_crow - 2023-11-18

I keep coming back to this channel despite being consistently mediocre in my science classes. the way you explain scientific processes just clicks with my brain in a way that my teachers techniques unfortunately don't. and of course, i can't deny i live for drama. thank you Bobby for all that you do!

@Darkfyyre - 2023-10-26

i'm on my third or fourth rewatch of this documentary now, and it's as compelling, informative, and entertaining this time as it has been every time. i saw this vid recc'd to me for months, and finally that simple yet intriguing thumbnail + title got me to click... and i've NEVER been so glad to have checked out a random video on a whim! all of your documentaries are so well made, thrilling, and i learn so so much from them (and every rewatch i pick up on something new, too). incredibly excited for your next project, as i was when i saw your most recent one drop. i'm more hyped up about these videos than i am about most other kinds of media announcements and stuff. this is top tier, 11/10 content. every time i see the thumbnail for this video pop up in my reccs, it's a battle in my mind for whether i should watch it AGAIN... and it's a battle i don't mind losing from time to time!

@Julia-we6xb - 2023-03-08

That visualization of the elements was actually really well done

@witchplease2831 - 2023-02-18

God, Darleanee's story feels me with such rage but also pride, they threw whatever they could at her but still couldn't knock her down. What an icon, full respect for her only.

@cornqq - 2023-09-22

this is an absolutely fascinating, well explained, and well structured video essay! the graphics and jokes made it an even better watch. literally had me captivated and rewinding to get every detail of the puzzle. thoroughly enjoyed, amazing work.

@TheBBQify - 2023-10-19

Not only is this a fascinating a story; but that's largely because this video is a masterclass in storytelling! Great work.

@parafoxl7619 - 2023-07-08

Can I just say how awesome this style of video is where we basically never leave this space and just accumulate more information into it, but it also has a 3d model in it?!