Element 113 makes headlines

The news that a group of researchers at RIKEN had been officially recognized as having discovered element 113 traveled like lightning through the various Japanese and international research communities, news agencies and the wider public.

Early in the morning of 31 December 2015, the scientific body charged with naming elements—the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)—informed group leader Kosuke Morita of their decision. He shared the happy news with communications staff at RIKEN, who quickly sent out press releases to journalists and publicized the details on the RIKEN website. Meanwhile, Morita flew from Fukuoka—where he lives—to Tokyo for a press conference being hastily convened for that evening.

RIKEN President Hiroshi Matsumoto, RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science Director Hideto En’yo and close to 40 journalists also converged on the press conference. Around seven television crews filmed the event, interrupting their traditional New Year’s Eve shows to broadcast the story.

The announcement appeared as a news flash during the popular singing contest Kohaku produced by Japan’s sole public broadcaster, which close to 40 per cent of households watch across the country. It made front-page news in several national newspapers on New Year’s Day. Outside Japan, the Associated Press published a story on the discovery, which featured in a number of online newspapers. A second wave of stories made headlines in all the major news outlets just as the world was returning to work on 4 January, including Nature, Science, The New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, the Guardian, Forbes, The Atlantic, CNN, BBC, Fox News, and of course many newspapers in Asia. In Russia too it was heavily covered—perhaps partly because three other new elements were officially recognized as having been discovered by Russian and US groups.

The global excitement has since calmed down, and Morita has already begun working on one of the major tasks he’ll have this year: settling on a name to propose for the element. Ultimately, his research group will propose a name to the IUPAC, which the IUPAC will then present for public review.