Japan – The Episodic Table of Elements

94. Plutonium: Weapons-Grade

March 3, 2025

6:00 am

7 Comments on 94. Plutonium: Weapons-Grade

Astronomy, Glenn T. Seaborg, Harry Daghlian, Harry Truman, Japan, Jons Jacob Berzelius, Los Alamos, Louis Slotin, Mythology, Nuclear Accidents, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons, Radioactivity, Russia, The Demon Core, The Manhattan Project, United States, World War II

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Element 94 causes a bit of a crisis for our collections.

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drawing of the landscape of thorns

93. Neptunium: Great Expectations

August 22, 2024

6:00 am

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Astronomy, Benito Mussolini, Berkeley Edwin McMillan, Bruno Pontecorvo, Clemens Winkler, Coal Power, Deep Time, Dmitri Mendeleev, Edoardo Amaldi, Emilio Segre, Energy, Enrico Fermi, Ettore Majorana, Etymology, Fascism, Finland, Fission, Franco Rasetti, Fritz Strassman, Germany, Hans Rudolph Hermann, Ida Tacke, Indigenous Americans, Isotopes, Italy, Japan, Lise Meitner, Nazis, Nevada, Nobel Prizes, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons, Orso Mario Corbino, Otto Frisch, Otto Hahn, Philip H. Abelson, Radioactivity, Sweden, Synthetic Elements, Tennessee, Tsunamis, United States, Walter Noddack, Women In Science, World War II

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To the person who said, “the episodes are never too long,” I’m terribly sorry.

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48. Cadmium: Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic?

October 28, 2019

6:00 am

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Art & Science, Biology, Claude Monet, England, Etymology, France, Friedrich Stromeyer, Japan, Karl Hermann, Medicine, Poisons, Sam Kean, Tobacco, Vaping, Yellow

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Cadmium will let you choose among a range of orange-ish hues, but it’s some pretty awful news if you contract the “cadmium blues.”

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42. Molybdenum: Conventional Weapons

July 29, 2019

6:00 am

2 Comments on 42. Molybdenum: Conventional Weapons

Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Constantinople, Fortifications, France, Germany, Gunpowder, Japan, Mehmed II, Middle Ages, Mining, Turkey, Weaponry, World War I

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Before we talk about one big gun, let’s discuss 1,500 years of military technology.

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