Yuri Oganessian facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yuri Oganessian
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| Юрий Оганесян | |
Oganessian in 2016
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Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian
14 April 1933 Rostov-on-Don, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
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| Citizenship | Soviet Union (1933–1991) Russia (1991–present) Armenia (2018–present) |
| Alma mater | Moscow Engineering Physics Institute |
| Known for | Co-discoverer of the heaviest elements in the periodic table; element oganesson named after him |
| Awards | Lomonosov Gold Medal (2017) Demidov Prize (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Nuclear physics |
| Institutions | Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research |
Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian (born on April 14, 1933) is a famous Armenian and Russian nuclear physicist. He is best known for his amazing work on finding superheavy elements. He has led the discovery of many new chemical elements.
He took over from Georgy Flyorov as the director of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in 1989. This lab is part of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. He is now the scientific director there. The heaviest known element, oganesson, is named after him. This is a very special honor! It's only the second time an element was named after someone who was still alive.
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About Yuri Oganessian
Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on April 14, 1933. His parents were from Armenia. His father was from Igdir, and his mother was from Armavir.
Yuri spent his childhood in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. His family moved there in 1939. His father, Tsolak, was an engineer who worked with heat. He was asked to work at a factory in Yerevan that made rubber. During World War II, his family decided to stay in Yerevan. Yuri finished school there. When he was young, he wanted to be a painter.
Oganessian was married to Irina Levonovna, who was a violinist and music teacher. They had two daughters. As of 2017, his daughters live in the U.S. Yuri Oganessian can speak Russian, Armenian, and English.
Yuri Oganessian's Career
Yuri Oganessian finished his studies at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in 1956. He then started working at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. He was recruited by a scientist named Georgy Flyorov.
In 1989, Oganessian became the director of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR. He held this job until 1996. After that, he became the scientific director of the lab.
Discovering New Elements
In the 1970s, Oganessian created a method called "cold fusion." This technique helps to make superheavy elements. It's important to know that this "cold fusion" is different from the idea of making energy from fusion. Oganessian's method was key to finding elements from 106 to 113.
From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, JINR (led by Oganessian) worked with a German research center called GSI. Together, they discovered six chemical elements: bohrium (107), meitnerium (109), hassium (108), darmstadtium (110), roentgenium (111), and copernicium (112).
Oganessian later developed a newer method called "hot fusion." This technique also has nothing to do with making energy. It helped lead to the discovery of elements 113 to 118. These discoveries completed the seventh row of the periodic table. This method involves shooting calcium atoms at targets made of heavier, radioactive elements. These elements are rich in neutrons. The elements found using this method include:
- nihonium (113, found in 2003)
- flerovium (114, found in 1999)
- moscovium (115, found in 2003)
- livermorium (116, found in 2000)
- tennessine (117, found in 2009)
- oganesson (118, found in 2002)
Recognition and Honors
Sherry Yennello, another scientist, has called Yuri Oganessian the "grandfather of superheavy elements." Oganessian has made three major discoveries. He has also written a book, invented 11 things, and published over 300 scientific papers.
Many people believe Oganessian deserves a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Element Oganesson
In early 2016, people who write about science thought that one of the new superheavy elements might be named after Oganessian. In November 2016, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced that element 118 would be named oganesson. This was done to honor Yuri Oganessian.
Element 118 was first seen in 2002 at JINR. A team of Russian and American scientists worked together on this. The team was led by Oganessian and included scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Before this, only one other element, seaborgium, was named after a person who was still alive. Since Glenn T. Seaborg (for whom seaborgium was named) passed away in 1999, Yuri Oganessian is the only living person with an element named after him.
Awards and Degrees
In 1990, Oganessian became a Corresponding Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 2003, he became a Full Member (Academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
He has also received special honorary degrees from several universities:
- Goethe University Frankfurt (2002)
- University of Messina (2009)
- Yerevan State University (2022)
In 2019, he was made an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
Important Awards
Yuri Oganessian has received many important awards for his work:
- Lenin Komsomol Prize (1967)
- USSR State Prize (1975)
- Kurchatov Medal (1989)
- Lise Meitner Prize of the European Physical Society (2000)
- State Prize of the Russian Federation (2010)
- Lomonosov Gold Medal (2018)
- Demidov Prize (2019)
- UNESCO-Russia Mendeleev International Prize in the Basic Sciences (2021)
Recognition in Armenia
Yuri Oganessian was given Armenian citizenship in July 2018. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST). He also leads the international scientific board of the Alikhanian National Science Laboratory in Yerevan.
In 2017, the Armenian postal service, HayPost, released a postage stamp honoring Oganessian. In 2022, the Central Bank of Armenia made a silver coin to celebrate Oganessian and the element oganesson. In April 2022, he was named an honorary professor at Yerevan State University.
Images for kids
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Oganessian on a 2017 Armenian stamp
See also
In Spanish: Yuri Oganesián para niños
