The Fake Discovery
Number 43 and 75 had been blank on the Periodic Table for years escaping discovery. Two German Chemists, Walter Noddack (1893-1960) and Ida Tackle (1896- 1979), were set on discovering the two elusive elements. In 1925 Noddack and Tackle announced their discovery of element 43 as Masurium and element 75 as Rhenium. After their discovery element 43, Masurium, it was tried to be reproduce but attempts failed and the element discovery was withdrawn, but Noddack and Tackle’s discovery of Rhenium was concrete.
Emilio Gino Segre
Emilio Gino Segrè and his partner Carlo Perrier are the men who discovered the 43 element on the periodic table, technetium. He was born on February 1, 1905 in Tivoli Italy to his parents, Giusppe Segrè and Amelia Treves. As a young boy he went to schools in Tivoli and then later went off to the University of Rome in 1922 to study engineering. After a few months into the program Segrè decided that engineer was not his passion and switched into a major in physics. He studied under the watchful eye of Italian physicist Enrico Fermi to achieve his doctorate in 1928.
After receiving an education Segrè felt it was necessary to join the Italian Army in which he served in for two years, 1928 and 1929. In 1930 he stumbled upon a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship allowing him to work with two eminent professors Otto Stern and Pieter Zeeman. After his fellowship he returned to his college where he worked as a professor in 1929 and then again in 1932-1936. During this the University Segrè began to work once again with Enrico Fermi on neutron research which would later help him in the discovery of Technetium. In 1936 he switched jobs to becoming the director of the Physics Laboratory at the University of Palermo. Shortly there after the employment shift Segrè and Perrier discovered how to make Technetium by bombarding molybdenum 98 atoms with deuterons that had been accelerated in a cyclotron. This discovery was ground breaking; it was the first element to ever be artificially produced. In 1940 he discovered yet another element astatine and the isotope plutonium 239 which would be used to develop the 1st atomic bomb.
Segrè did not finish his work after his remarkable discovery. In 1943 he traveled the United States to work as a leader in the creation of the atomic bomb until 1946. From here he traveled to Berkley in California where he remained as a professor in physics until 1972. During his teachings at Berkley Segrè began to work with Owen Chamberlain. Together they made a remarkable discovery in 1955, the detection of an antiproton by using Beatron, a particle accelerator located in the Radiation Laboratory at Berkley. In 1959 Segrè and Chamberlain received the Nobel Peace Prize for their spectacular discovery. Segrè continued his teachings until 1972 when he retired. He died on April 22, 1989 in Lafayette, California, at the age of 84.
Summarry and Timeline
1905 Feb 1- Emilio Gino Segrè is born in Tivoli Italy to Giusppe Segrè and Amelia Treves
1922- Segrè enters the University of Rome as engineering major which he switches to physics. He studies under Enrico Fermi
1928- Segrè receives his doctorate in physics
1928-1929- Segrè serves in Italy’s army
1929- Segrè returns to the University of Rome to assistant teach
1930- He recives Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship allowing him to work with two eminent professors Otto Stern and Pieter Zeeman
1934-Segrè starts neutron research with his former professor Enrico Rermi
1932-1936- Segrè works again at the University of Rome.
1937- Segrè and Perrier discover Technetium
1940- Segrè discovers astatine and plutonium-239
1943-1946- Segrè works on creating the first atomic bomb
1946- Segrè begins working at Berkley in California
1955- Segrè and Owen Chamberlain discover the Antiproton
1959- Segrè and Chamberlain receive the Nobel Peace Prize
1972- Segrè stops working at Berkley
1989 April 22- Segrè died at the age of 84 in Lafayette, California