Gov. Bill Haslam (left) speaks with Wigner Lecturer Yuri Oganessian at Jan. 27's lecture and reception. In the background are (from left) DOE's Timothy Hallman, Sergey Dmitriev of the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, JINR Director Victor Matveev and ORNL Director Thom Mason. (ORNL Today)
The recently discovered element 117 was officially named "tennessine" in Nov. 2016 in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery. Researchers at ORNL, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Tennessee played a critical role in producing this superheavy element. To learn more about the discovery, please visit https://www.ornl.gov/content/element-117-resource-page