Abstract
IT is announced that Dr. W. Minder, of the University of Berne, has succeeded in isolating element 85. This, it is claimed, has been produced in small quantities from the decomposition of actinium, which is radioactive. Dr. Minder has named the new element ‘helvetium’ in honour of his country. It is hoped that further details of this claim will be available shortly. Commenting on this announcement in the Evening News (London) of August 13 is of such encouraging significance as to be worth placing on record. This newspaper says: “It is odd to learn to-day, in the midst of war, that a patient Swiss scientist has succeeded at last in isolating the elusive chemical element ‘85’. It is still odder to reflect that in the long view of history a discovery of that sort may rank above all the perils and victories of these days.”
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Element 85. Nature 146, 225 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146225a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146225a0