Promethium
Prometio (Pm, Z=61)
- Date
- 1945 · confidence high
- Place
- Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States
- Credited to
- Jacob Marinsky, Lawrence Glendenin and Charles Coryell
- People
- 👤 Charles D. Coryell1912–1971👤 Jacob A. Marinsky1918–2005👤 Lawrence E. Glendenin1918–2008
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Identified in uranium fission products from the Oak Ridge graphite reactor using ion-exchange chromatography; announced in 1947.
Earlier claims (illinium, florentium) were mistaken; it is the only lanthanide with no stable isotopes.
What it led to
- Promethium nuclear batteries
- Ion-exchange chromatography for rare earths
- The closing of the last gap in the classical periodic table
Built on
- Nuclear reactor (Chicago Pile-1)1942
- Ion exchange
Made possible
- Betavoltaic battery
- Pm-147 luminous paint