TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS - THE SYNTHETIC ACTINIDES

The era ''One Hundred Years of Radioactivity'' began with discovery of the radioactivity of uranium in early 1896. For more than half of tha t span of time we have been investigating the radioactivity of the ele ments beyond uranium, i.e., the ''Trans-uranium Elements''. The first two transuranium elements, neptunium (atomic number 93) and plutonium (94) were synthesized and identified, i.e., discovered, 55 years ago. I became interested in the transuranium field more than 60 years ago, very soon after the discovery of artificial radioactivity. In this acc ount I shall describe my involvement with the first eleven transuraniu m elements, atomic numbers 93-103, inclusive,the synthetic actinide el ements.