Protactinium
Protactinio (Pa, Z=91)
- Date
- 1917 · confidence high
- Place
- Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany
- Credited to
- Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner (and Frederick Soddy, John Cranston)
- People
- 👤 Kasimir Fajans1887–1975👤 Lise Meitner1878–1968👤 Otto Hahn1879–1968
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Fajans and Göhring detected the short-lived isotope 'brevium' in 1913; Hahn and Meitner identified the long-lived isotope Pa-231, precursor of actinium, in 1917-18, at the same time as Soddy and Cranston in Glasgow.
Priority disputed between Fajans-Göhring, Hahn-Meitner and Soddy-Cranston.
What it led to
- Understanding of the uranium-235 decay series
- Dating of marine sediments by Pa-231
- Meitner's contribution to radiochemistry
Built on
- Radioactive displacement law
- Hahn's radiochemistry
Made possible
- Pa-231/Th-230 dating