Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Wishlisted by Matt Mayer

How does a stonemasons apprentice from Essex, England born in 1799 get his name on the 116th element of the periodic table, discovered 201 years later? Robert Livermore was aged 17 when he joined a merchant ship headed to America, enlisted in the US Navy and fought in the Peruvian War of Independence against Spain. In 1822 he deserted his ship in California, later buying land and operating a ranch. After his death in 1858, William Mendenhall named the nearby town he founded Livermore, CA. The name stuck and in 1952 the University of California, Berkeley founded a laboratory here , the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was here in 2000 that scientists finally synthesised element 116: Livermorium. What Robert Livermore would think of this is anyone's guess!

The Origins of the Periodic Table