The discovery of new elements has been of fundamental importance in progressing society – new elements have contributed to our affluent society. The periodic table is expanding even now - four new elements Nh (atomic number 113), Mc (115), Ts (117), and Og (118) have been added on the table in 2016.

The new frontier is to create new superheavy elements 119 and 120, in order to open the door to the new period (that is, the eighth period) in the periodic table, as well as to understand the stability around the closed-proton shells in the nuclear system. As a topic of general interest, the discoverer can propose the element name – “Australium” might be on the periodic table as an element name in the future.

In this seminar, I will talk on the following topics:

(1)    History of discovery of new elements

(2)    How new elements contributed to our society

(3)    Current competition in the discovery of new elements

(4)    “Recipe” for creating new elements: the reaction mechanism and optimum conditions

(5)    “Australium”: how to name it, importance, influence in the world and future

Dr. Taiki Tanaka is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics in ANU. His main research field is experimental nuclear physics.