The Radioactive Elements (1935-2019)

The discovery of radioactivity in 1896 by Henri-Antoine Becquerel (1852-1908) opened the door for a whole new group of unstable elements. However, a difficulty emerged – a glut of elements was appearing, each with a different half-life, yet many had similar, if not identical, chemical properties. With no room left in the Periodic Table, confusion reigned supreme.

Frederick Soddy (1877-1956) clarified the situation in 1913 with his concept of isotopes, demonstrating that some elements could have different half-lives and yet have identical chemical behavior – hence, they were in the “same place” (from the Greek “isos topos”) in the Periodic Table. When the neutron was discovered by James Chadwick (1891-1974) in 1932, the source of the isotopes became clear – isotopes have the same atomic number, but different atomic mass.

The history of the elements ever since has been the discovery – mostly through designed nuclear reactions – of a score of additional elements (with many different isotopes), making the present grand total of 118 in the modern Periodic Table.

Explore the elements by decade:

Read more: "The Radioactive Elements,"by James Marshall, a Chem 13 News article (December 2019). 

1935-1944: technetium, francium, astatine, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium

Technetium, 43

Pen and ink on paper. Background is the tricolored Italian flag. Chemical symbol “Tc”, “43” and “98” appears in centre of a circle labeled “technetium”. The circle features a radioactive symbol with five stars and a hand. Below are the names Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segre, 1937.

Huron Heights Secondary School (HHSS)
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Craig Matthews
Artists: Lakyn Hann, Stefan Djukic, and Ria Menon

The colour of the symbol, number and mass reflects the silver grey colour of the element. The tri-colour background the Italian country of discovery along with the names of the discoverers and the date and the five full and partial stars to the discovery of 'technetium stars' containing a high content of the element as well as the five valence electrons in the 4d suborbital. The hand is included to symbolize technetium being a person-made element on earth and used for medical imaging. The radiation symbol represents its radioactive instability.

Francium, 87

Ink and coloured pencil on French flag (blue-white-red) background . A periodic table tile with the chemical symbol “Fr” appears centre. The tile has hands and feet and is also coloured like the French flag. It’s wearing a beret and holding a baguette in one hand and a scroll in the other. To the right and left are two small radioactive symbols. Two nuclear explosions from above and below are meeting together in the middle.

Port Credit Secondary School
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Jeanne Honsberger
Artist: Massa Mohamed Ali

Francium was discovered by Marguerite Catherine Perey, a French chemist, in 1939. To represent its radioactive and unstable properties, I drew an explosion along with hazard symbols in the background. Since the element is named after France, I chose to personify it by making it hold a baguette and wear a hat. I also used the colours of the French flag. I made francium hold a scroll to symbolize the different claims and denials made by scientists about francium before Perey. The scroll represents Perey's extensive research and experimentationl, which led to its discovery.

Astatine, 85

Oil on canvas, in orange black and white. A Bohr model of astatine dominates the artwork overlaying a portrait of Emilio Segre, with his left eye as the nucleus. The chemical symbol “At” also appears at the centre of the atom. A radioactive symbol radiates out from the centre in the background. Atomic number ”85” appears in the lower right corner.

Quezon City Science High School
Quezon City, Quezon City, Philippines
Teacher: Richard Sagcal
Artist: Radioactive

Astatine being a radioactive element is symbolized by a trefoil on Emilio Segre's eyes (discoverer of astatine) on the oil painting. The trefoil or the international radiation symbol also acts as the nucleus or the center of the element's electron shell structure. The number 85 can also be seen which is astatine's atomic number. The electron shell structure served as the centre figure of the larger trefoil. The color orange was used instead of yellow to symbolize creativity and enthusiasm, critical to scientific discoveries.

Neptunium, 93

Pen and watercolor on blue background. The artwork shows an underwater scene. Centre is the chemical symbol “Np” appearing as part of a large trident. On each side are two mythical sea dragons. Below is “93”.

Victoria Shanghai Academy
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Teacher: Isabella Liu
Artists: Jane Chan, Cherilynne Chau, Sammie Srirotjariya, Kaitlyn Chan, Charmaine Wan, Alicia Yu

When we first were assigned the element, students brainstormed related keywords and colours that would be associated to neptunium, which was named after the planet Neptune. Because Neptune is the next planet beyond Uranus, the name neptunium made sense as it is the next element on the periodic table after uranium. The keywords blue, ocean, and the God of Neptune kept reoccurring, which was why the final element tile contained aspects of the water god, dragons, and his famous trident. Neptunium was discovered by Edwin McMillan and Philip Abelson in 1940.

Plutonium, 94

Digital composite on orange background. A cartoon head of Glenn Seaborg centre next to a device that represents a cyclotron with a nuclear mushroom explosion above. In the background is a large radioactive symbol. Chemical symbol “Pu” appears below with “94”.

Rye High School
Rye, New York, U.S.A.
Teacher: Sally Mitchell
Artist: Naomi Melia Saito

Plutonium element was discovered by Glenn Seaborg and his team by producing plutonium using the cyclotron when they bombarded Uranium-238 with deuteron particles. The first cyclotron was invented by Ernest O. Lawrence. (My teacher was the last person to touch it before it was locked up.)  Plutonium was named after the planet, Pluto. Trinity was the code name for the very first detonation of a nuclear bomb on July 16th, 1945 in New Mexico. Plutonium bombs create a pyrocumulus mushroom cloud. It is highly radioactive, and the symbol was also invented at the University of California Berkeley.

Americium, 95

Crayon and pencil on paper. An atomic bomb colored as an American flag centre. Two scientists are riding on top and two below are carrying the bomb. On the bomb’s tail is printed “Am”, a radioactive symbol and “95. In the corners of the black background are the planet Earth, our sun and the Milky Way.

The Steward School
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Teacher: Leslie Kovach
Artists: Allison Langenburg, Anna Reese Richardson, Alex Wilkerson, Zayd Rehman

Our image depicts the four scientists who discovered the element riding an atomic bomb in outer space. The atomic bomb represents the actual discovery of the element. During WWII, the scientists were testing the bombs when they produced americium. The element is now tested for use in the international space station, hence the picture being set in outer space.

Curium, 96

Crayon, pen and ink on light green background. “Curium” appears top with a radioactive symbol below. Centre are the Polish and French flags with “1944” and two wedding rings. To the sides are the periodic table tiles for Polonium and Radium. At the bottom “HN”, “96, and “RH”.

Hants North Rural High
Kennetcook, Nova Scotia, Canada
Teacher: Jodi Davis
Artists: Adyson Singer, Arianna Lyons, Hannah Rines

Polonium and Radium are included because Marie Curie discovered these elements. The radioactive symbol is there because Marie Curie worked with radioactive elements. Since Marie was from Poland and her husband Pierre was from France, we chose to include the flags from those countries. The rings signify the love and marriage between Marie and Pierre. 1944 was the year curium was discovered. Green is the background because that was Marie's favourite colour. The initials of our school are also included.

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1945-1954: promethium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium

Promethium, 61

Coloured pencil and ink on blue background. Colourful mountain scene with an industrial town by the lake. Smokestacks from the town bleed into the mountain relief. In the sky, Prometheus points to his constellation using a torch. Bottom is the Chemical symbol “Pm” and atomic number “61”.

Pemberton Secondary School
Pemberton, British Columbia, Canada
Teacher: Karen Tomlinson
Artists: Kate Brosseau, Arriya Kuiper and Belle Dorgelo

Each artist contributed to different parts of the artwork. The stars are the Andromeda constellation, where traces of Promethium are found. Promethium was given its name from the Greek Titan Prometheus who stole fire from the gods to give to the humans.  Prometheus' torch holds the star in the constellation where Promethium was found. The lake colour is symbolic of the chemical compound of promethium-145 in luminous paint and the power plants represent how promethium is not naturally occurring on Earth, but must be manufactured.  The mountain in the background is Mount Currie, which overlooks our town of Pemberton.

Berkelium, 97

Colored pen and ink with an orange background with blue border. Centre in the middle of a blue circle is the chemical symbol “Bk” with “Berkelium” written in the “k” and a small “97” just above the “B”. Above is a radioactive symbol with lines radiating out. Within the circle are the words “Solid”, “actinides”, “Berkeley”, “Silvery”, “Metal”, “12,1949” and “247”.

Georgian Bay District Secondary School
Midland, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Dr. Stacey Deneka
Artist: Abhimanya Navaratnam

Berkelium was first discovered on December, 1949, in the University of California at Berkeley. I chose to represent as much information of the element onto the hexagon while remaining true to the identity of berkelium. A significant feature is the presence of the logo for the University of California at Berkeley. The main features present in the regular logo are replaced by information that are true to berkelium.

Californium, 98

Pen and watercolor on white paper. Chemical symbol “Cf” centre with “Californium” and “251” written below. The background features a yellow, orange and red sky with wild roses and crystals in the bottom foreground.

Thousand Oaks High School
Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.A.
Teacher: Rhonda Frohn
Artist: Madeline Biggs

Californium was first discovered at Berkeley, California in the 1950s. It is a very strong neutron source and is used to find gold and silver ores through neutron activation. The design of the element took place in fall of 2018 so the strong note on my element artwork symbolizes recent events in my community including the Borderline shooting and local wildfires in November in 2018. Our recovery is strong, and representing my strong community in an international setting is an honor.

Einsteinium, 99

Digital composite. Albert Ghiorso appears in the centre bottom in front of a series of sillohettes. The background shows a beach scene and a nuclear explosion above. In the foreground is an orange road sign with “Caution”, “Es”, the nuclear symbol and atomic number “99” below.

Palm Beach Currumbin State High
Currumbin, Queensland, Australia
Teacher: Lee-Anne Bramley
Artist: Lily de Groot

Einsteinium, named after Albert Einstein, is a synthetic element discovered in 1952 during examination of debris of the first hydrogen bomb. Einsteinium was discovered by scientist Albert Ghiorso and his team. A mushroom cloud and radioactive hazard sign represents how it was discovered, and its radioactive properties. Albert Ghiorso has been placed in front with silhouettes to represent his team. The beach setting and ocean background represents where the bomb was tested: the Pacific Ocean. The use of glitter represents the small amount of element created, and also that it glows blue due to energy released during radioactive decay.

Fermium, 100

Black and white ink drawing framed on green background. The drawing features a nuclear mushroom cloud. Above the drawing are the chemical symbol “Fm” and atomic number “100”. Below are “257” and “fermium”.

Aviation High School
Clayfield, Queensland, Australia
Teacher: Maureen Monteiro
Artist: Sebastian Damceski

The idea for the artwork starts first with the green tile because fermium is radioactive and radiation is commonly associated with the green colour. Secondly, since it was discovered at the Ivy Mike Test Centre where a thermonuclear device was also tested, I added a mushroom cloud to represent the dangerous process that first created fermium. Thirdly, the radioactive symbol is added to recognize fermium’s radioactive property.

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1955-1964: mendelevium, nobelium, rutherfordium

Mendelevium, 101

Acrylic, watercolour and digital composite. A bearded man suspended in outer space is illustrated from neck to waist holding a miniature particle accelerator in which einsteinium and alpha particles are colliding. Behind the accelerator is a small periodic table made up of simple coloured blocks. The man is suspended in outer space.

Westwood Community High School
Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Teacher: Lori Simpson
Artist: Farah Sadek

Westwood pays homage to the great thinker, Mendeleev, in our design for mendelevium. He formulated the reasons science lovers are celebrating this year, an early version of periodic table. Synthesized by crashing einsteinium with alpha particles in a particle accelerator, mendeleevium was discovered by Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Gregory Robert Choppin, Bernard G. Harvey, and Stanley G. Thompson in 1955 at the University of California, Berkeley. The design of Westwood's Chem 35 class ties all these aspects and history behind the seemingly simple element. Made by combining acrylic, watercolour, and digital techniques, we hope to honour the mysterious element and the great man it is named after.

Nobelium, 102

“Albert Ghiorso” (USA), “Glenn T. Seaborg” (USA), “Tobjørn Sikkeland” (Norway), “Alfred Nobel” (Sweden), “Georgy Flerov” (USSR).

Hackettstown Middle School
Hackettstown, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Teacher: LisaMarie Bamber-Wichtendahl
Artist: Sarah Newen

The medium of my illustration is a colored pencil outlined with Sharpie. The illustration depicts the four discoverers of the element nobelium: Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Torbjorn Sikkeland and Georgy Flerov. Alfred Nobel, the chemist who discovered dynamite and founded the Nobel Prize foundation, is also featured since element 102 was named after him. Behind each of the figures are the flags of their nationality. Lastly, the uppermost triangle holds the element’s name, symbol and atomic number in an original font.

Rutherfordium, 104

Nuclear Power”; the chemical symbol “Rf”, “361 g/mol” and “Rutherfordium”. Three images across the bottom half include a nuclear hazard symbol, a Bohr model of rutherfordium, and a pen-and-ink portrait of Ernest Rutherford in the foreground.

LaurenHill Academy
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Teacher: Nora Pang
Artist: Minah Shin

Rutherfordium was first discovered in Dubna, Russia, in 1964 by a team of scientists led by Georgy Flerov. It’s a radioactive element and named after the scientist, Ernest Rutherford. The element was name after Rutherford to honour him because he is considered as the father of nuclear Physics and Chemistry. These characteristics inspired me to draw a portrait of Rutherford and a radiation warning symbol in the artwork. In addition, I put the electron shell configuration of rutherfordium.

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1965-1974: dubnium, seaborgium, lawrencium

Dubnium, 105

Digital composite in reds and pinks on a black background. In the foreground “N-15” collides with “Cf-249” to create “Db-105”, releasing four neutrons. In the background, a second experimental design with nuclear fission in one chamber.

University of Toronto Schools
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Jennifer Howell
Artist: Janice Chung

The artwork gives credit to strategies employed by both Russian and American teams who found different isotopes of dubnium. 249Cf was bombarded by the American team with 15N, where four neutrons are emitted with a 260Db atom. The arrows make a stylistic “t”, in a nod to Doctor Otto Hahn whose discoveries on Nuclear Fission made the American experiment possible. The Americium, used by the Russians, is displayed in the holding chamber of a Heavy Ion Linear Accelerator (HILAC) used to discover the element. A visual representation of fission in depicted in the HILAC chamber.

Seaborgium, 106

Pencil on paper. Black and white portrait of Albert Ghiorso on a red background. Chemical symbol “Sg” and atomic number “106” also appear.

Clint ISD Early College Academy
Clint, Texas, USA
Teacher: Alexandra Falcon-Soriano
Artist: Chem Club Member

The artwork depicts Albert Ghiorso who co-discovered seaborgium as well as 11 other chemical elements. Ghiorso not only spent countless hours in the lab, but he also spent days upon days researching different methods and inventing machines to help his research. His work ethic is something seen in very few people, making him an admirable and inspirational individual. Drawing him was a surreal experience because he has been such a role model in my academic life. I hope my drawing can speak for itself and for others inspired by the life of Albert Ghiorsi, a scientist unnoticed. Seaborgium was discovered in 1974 and named after Glenn T. Seaborg for his involvement in the synthesis, discovery and investigation with transuranium elements.

Lawrencium, 103

Coloured pencil on white paper. The circular path of a cyclotron overlays a portrait of Ernest Lawrence’s face outlined in orange and shaded in green. “Lr” and “103” appear at the top along the outermost path.

Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Christina Papaiconomou
Artists: Sina Tafreshi, Lucas Chua, Bianca Pedretti and Eddie Vidovic.

Lawrencium was named after Ernest Lawrence, the inventor of the cyclotron particle accelerator. Through the help of the cyclotron, many radioactive elements were synthetically created by smashing particles together in a circular motion. Although lawrencium was not created using this circular particle accelerator, the element was artificially produced in a very similar fashion. This artwork of lawrencium pictures a spiral representing a cyclotron. Additionally, Ernest Lawrence is depicted to represent the origin of the element’s name. Furthermore, the green and yellow colours represent the radioactivity of lawrencium while the lackluster tone represents the relatively unknown properties of this element.

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1975-1984: bohrium, meitnerium, hassium

Bohrium, 107

Watercolor and pen on paper. Stylized as urban graffiti with chemical symbol “Bh” centre along with “107” and “Bohrium” in the German flag colors. Surrounding are images of rainbows and video game-like characters producing rainbows all layered on top of one another.

Lytle Junior High School
Lytle, Texas, U.S.A.
Teacher: Joline Gracyn
Artist: Chessa Hartley-Mapes

Bohrium was first prepared in 1975 by Russian scientists. It was recreated in 1981 by German scientists who were credited with the discovery. I used colors representative of each country’s flag in my design. Bohrium decays very rapidly so it has no current uses. The rainbows were added to represent the short lifespan of the element since rainbows are only visible when the right conditions are present.

Meitnerium, 109

Digital composite on white background. Centre is a black-and-white pop art photograph of Lise Meitner. Upper left is the chemical symbol “Mt” along with “Meitnerium” and atomic number “109”.

Seminole High School
Sanford, Florida, U.S.A.
Teacher: Frances Monroe
Artist: Ariana Zhai

Meitnerium is named after the scientist Lise Meitner, a pioneer for women in science. Meitner was a physics professor at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and was one of the first scientists to discover nuclear fission, for which she shared a Nobel Prize. Because the element in named in her honor, my artwork also pays homage to her. I made this image using Adobe Illustrator, taking inspiration from black and white photographs and minimalist style. I took advantage of white space representing the vast amount we still have to learn about the element. Meitnerium was first synthesized in 1982 by a German research team led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg at the Institute for Heavy Ion in Darmstadt.

Hassium, 108

Digital composite. Background shows a grey laboratory with a nuclear symbol on the wall. Centre foreground is the chemical symbol “Hs” and “108” lit up by an interrogation lamp. Two scientists - Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber – are outlined in white and appear on each side of the symbol. Below is the Hesse state symbol of a red and white stripped lion.

Saint Michael Catholic High School
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Francesca Caruso-Leitch
Artist: Anna Ly

This tile was designed by Anna Ly from Saint Michael Catholic High School in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Hassium was produced in 1984 by a team of scientists led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber in the Darmstadt Institute for Heavy Ion Research in Germany. This element was synthesized as a result of bombarding Pb-208 with Fe-58. Hassium was named after the German state Hesse, hence the Hesse state symbol present in the tile. Furthermore, its radioactive property is represented by the safety poster in the background.

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1985-1994: darmstadtium, roentgenium

Darmstadtium, 110

Pen and watercolour. Centre is word “Darmstadtium”, above the chemical symbol “Ds”, at the bottom, “281” and “110”. Background features a cityscape of Mathildenhöhe and the ‘Waldspirale’ building complex in Darmstadt, along with and a particle accelerator in the lower right corner.

Bluevale Collegiate Institute
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Maria Tuma
Artist: Laila Elhossini

On the top and bottom left I made an illustration of common tourist sites in Darmstadt. Mathildenhöhe is depicted at the top and the forest spiral or ‘Waldspirale’ is drawn in the bottom left. A particle accelerator is shown in the bottom right. These illustrations represent the city after which darmstadtium is named and the particle accelerator where it was first prepared.

Roentgenium, 111

Acrylic. Side portrait of Wilhelm Rontgen centre. On his head appears a crown with “111”; on his beard “Roentgenium”. He’s facing outer space to the left showing faint outlines of puzzle pieces. Behind him on the right is the chemical symbol “Rg”. His shoulders and chest appear as x-rays. The right side features reds and oranges and a variety of chemical structures and DNA helixes.

Pui Kiu College
Hong Kong, China 
Teacher: TO Chin Nang
Artists: HAU Sze Chai, Scarlett

Roentgenium was named after Wilhelm Röntgen, the discoverer of X-rays, therefore I used Röntgen with X-ray body as the main object of my design. I’ve added a crown with the atomic number 111 on it. The body of Röntgen merges with some chemical symbols to show its relationship with chemistry. As roentgenium is a very reactive element, different colors are used to represent its unstable property. Moreover, roentgenium properties are still unknown, like a piece of puzzle or a star in the night sky, thus I used puzzle with a starlight color as the background.

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1995-2004: copernecium, flerovium, livermorium, nihonium

Copernicium, 112

Radioactive half-life of 29 seconds; Predicted to be gaseous at room temperature; Most dense metal (23.7 g/cc in solid state) due to relativistic effect; Electronic configuration [Rn]5f14 6d10 7s2; Predicted oxidation states: 0, +1, +2, +4. 2. History: Discovered in 1996; Reaction leading to the discovery: 20882Pb + 7030 Zn  278112Cn*277112Cn + 10n; Named after ‘Nicolaus Copernicus’; Till 1996 known as Eka – Mercury>> 1996-2009 known as; Ununbium or E-112>> 2010 IUPAC accepted Cn. 3. Scientists: Discover

National Public School, Koramangala
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Teacher: Vipina Karthic
Artists: Anvitaa Ananthkumar, Palak Pariawala

The artwork focuses on three main aspects of the element – its history, the scientists who discovered the element and the properties it is expected to have as of now. As copernicium is a very recently developed man-made element (1996), most of the information about the element is experimental and its properties are those predicted based on its location on the periodic table. Having a very short half-life means that so far, no uses have been discovered, which is why none are mentioned in the artwork. My students created our tile using ‘Inkspace’ – a graphic-design tool website.

Flerovium, 114

Glass tile mosaic. Periodic table tile of Flerovium top left with the chemical symbol “Fl” and atomic number “114”. Background contains white, blue and red pieces. Foreground shows a bald eagle perched on the back of a brown bear.

Stanwood High School
Stanwood, Washington, U.S.A.
Teacher: Susan Hauenstein
Artist: Olivia Forcier-Capper

Flerovium (atomic number 114 and atomic mass 289) was first made in Dubna, Russia in 1998, and announced in 1999. Teams at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, led respectively by Yuri Oganessian and Ken Moody, fused plutonium-244 with calcium-48 to make flerovium. This is a synthetic radioactive element and used only in scientific studies.

I made a glass mosaic using the colors red, white and blue to represent the United States and Russian flags. I used the countries' animals to show that scientists came together to discover this element.  The name Flerovium was chosen to honour Georgy Flyorov (sometimes spelled Flerov), the Russian physicist who discovered spontaneous fission.

Livermorium, 116

Coloured pencil on white paper. The chemical symbol “Lv” appears in bright blue, centre. The “L” is the logo for Lawrence Livermore Laboratory; within the V are the American and Russian flags. Above is atomic number “116” made with radioactive symbols. The isotopes Ca + Cm are shown at the top along with Lv-292. The background is a sketch of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

Livonia Churchill High School
Livonia, Michigan, U.S.A.
Teacher: Amy Lou Martin
Artist: Asenia Curka

This tile depicts the relatively new (early 2000s discovery) radioactive element Livermorium. In the artwork there is a background sketch of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory where several failed attempts to produce the element occurred. The lab did produce the isotopes of calcium-48 and curium-248 which were used by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research lab in Dubna, Russia to produce the few atoms of element 116 which have been isolated. The symbol for the element contains the logo for Lawrence Livermore National Labs and a flag of both Russia and the United States.

Nihonium, 113

Pen and ink on white paper. Pen and ink portrait of Kōsuke Morita bottom right. Centre is the chemical symbol “Nh” in red stylized font, along with atomic number “113” and “keep on believing”. Centre is a poem written in Japanese, also in red.

Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School
Tokyo, Japan
Teacher: Tomomi Samejima
Artist: Nanami Kuroiwa

The inspiration for the design was drawn from an interview featuring professor Morita (bottom right), the discoverer of the element. In his interview, he hinted at the importance of never giving up, and believing in the project. Since this message is universal throughout all disciplines, it was appropriate to make a Senryu poem, a traditional Japanese poem, from it (Japanese at the center, English interpretation on the bottom left). I did this all while using the Japanese celebratory color palette of red, white and gold, celebrating the first ever element discovered in Japan.

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2005-2019: tennesine, oganesson, moscovium

Tennessine, 117

Coloured pen on white paper. The chemical symbol “Ts” is shown centre in Vanderbilt University orange and white font. Above is atomic number “117”; below atomic weight “294”. In the background are the Russian flag and radioactive symbol at the top; a pink flower in the lower left corner and the California State flag to the right.

Ovilla Christian School
Ovilla, Texas, U.S.A.
Teacher: Joely Glover
Artists: Audrey Nunes and Brennan Boyd

To represent tennessine, we placed a flower on the bottom left hand corner to represent April 2010, when the element was first announced to the world. The top left has the Russian flag to recognize the contributions of the scientists in Dubna, Russia. The symbol for radioactivity represents its radioactive properties. The redwood tree with the California Flag symbolizes the scientists who helped at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Finally, we added the Tennessee Flag to the bottom right corner to give recognition to Vanderbilt University, the affiliation of the researcher who first prepared it. We also recognized the state of Tennessee, which the element is name after.

Oganesson, 118

Digital artwork on black background. Centre foreground is Yuri Oganessian. Behind him is the chemical symbol “Og” with “118” drawn to look like a glowing blue-green neon sign.

St. Andrew's Episcopal School
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.\
Teacher: Bryan Dunn
Artist: Samantha Rauch

This tile features Yuri Oganessian, the nuclear physicist after whom Oganesson is named. He has contributed to the research of transuranic elements at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. Oganesson falls in group eighteen of the periodic table and therefore predicted to be a noble gas. The atomic number and atomic symbol are shown as a neon light, as most colors of neon lights are produced by running an electric current through a noble gas. The tile was digitally drawn in Photoshop Creative Cloud.

Moscovium, 115

Coloured pencil on paper. Centre is the chemical symbol “Mc” in an art deco font. Below “Moscovium” in cursive. “115” appears in the upper left corner. The background features the main building of Lomonosov Moscow State University with coloured graphic circles and lines in the sky.

School #192
Moscow, Russian Federation
Teacher: Leonid V. Romashov
Artist: Ekaterina Belichenko

The artwork shows the main building of Lomonosov Moscow State University as a leading scientific center and a fragment of the Moscow Subway as a symbol of Moscow. Moscovium was named after the Moscow Oblast, the political subdivision where the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research is located. The laboratory was the first to prepared element 115 in 2003.

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