[Daily article] October 9: Hassium

Hassium is a highly radioactive chemical element with symbol Hs and
atomic number 108. The most stable known isotopes have half-lives of
around 10 seconds. Natural occurrences of this superheavy element have
been hypothesised, but none has ever been found. The first attempts to
artificially prepare element 108 by nuclear fusion began in 1978 at the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the Soviet Union; though likely
successful by 1984, these experiments did not prove conclusively that
the element had been synthesised. For this reason, the discovery is
principally credited to a team led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried
Münzenberg at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung who bombarded
lead-208 with iron-58 and produced hassium-265. The name hassium was
selected as a reference to the German state of Hesse, where the research
was conducted. The observed chemical properties of hassium are
consistent with its expected placement as the group 8 element in
period 7 of the periodic table.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassium>

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1780:

The deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record began to impact the
Caribbean, killing at least 20,000 people across the Antilles over the
subsequent days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hurricane_of_1780>

1914:

World War I: The civilian authorities of Antwerp surrendered,
allowing the German army to capture the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Antwerp_%281914%29>

2012:

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was severely injured by a
Taliban gunman in a failed assassination attempt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai>

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Wiktionary's word of the day:

style:
1. (transitive) To call or give a name or title to.
2. (transitive) To create for, or give to, someone a style, fashion, or
image, particularly one which is regarded as attractive, tasteful, or
trendy.
3. (intransitive, US, informal) To act in a way which seeks to show that
one possesses style.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/style>

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Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Instant Karma's gonna get you Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers Everyone you meet  
--John Lennon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Lennon>

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