Sigurd Hofmann (15 February 1944 – 17 June 2022) was a

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...

known for his work on superheavy elements.

Biography

Hofmann discovered his love for

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

at the Max Planck High School in

Groß-Umstadt Groß-Umstadt is a town in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hesse in Germany. It is near by Darmstadt and Frankfurt on the northern border of mountain range Odenwald and is on the south-eastern edge of Rhine- ...

, Germany, where he graduated in 1963. He studied physics at the Technical University in Darmstadt (

Diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

, 1969, and thesis at the Institute of Nuclear Physics with Egbert Kankeleit and Karl Wien, 1974). From 1974 to 1989 he was responsible for the detection and identification of nuclei produced in heavy ion reactions at the velocity separator SHIP (Separator for Heavy Ion reaction Products) at the

GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research The GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (german: GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung) is a federally and state co-funded heavy ion () research center in the Wixhausen suburb of Darmstadt, Germany. It was founded in 1969 as t ...

. He was working in the Department Nuclear Chemistry II headed by Peter Armbruster. From 1989 he was leading, after

Gottfried Münzenberg Gottfried Münzenberg (born 17 March 1940) is a German physicist. He studied physics at Justus-Liebig-Universität in Giessen and Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck and completed his studies with a Ph.D. at the University of Giessen ...

, the experiments for the synthesis of new elements. From 1998 he was Honorary Professor at the

Goethe-Universität Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the weal ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

. He was the leading scientist with the discovery experiments of the chemical elements

darmstadtium Darmstadtium is a chemical element with the symbol Ds and atomic number 110. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element. The most stable known isotope, darmstadtium-281, has a half-life of approximately 12.7 seconds. Darmstadtium was first ...

( Ds,

atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...

110), roentgenium ( Rg, 111) and

copernicium Copernicium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Cn and atomic number 112. Its known isotopes are extremely radioactive, and have only been created in a laboratory. The most stable known isotope, copernicium-285, has a half-life of ap ...

( Cn, 112). He made substantial contributions to the discovery experiments of the elements bohrium ( Bh, 107), hassium ( Hs, 108) and

meitnerium Meitnerium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Mt and atomic number 109. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element (an element not found in nature, but can be created in a laboratory). The most stable known isotope, meitnerium- ...

( Mt, 109). He participated in the discovery of the element

flerovium Flerovium is a superheavy chemical element with symbol Fl and atomic number 114. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element. It is named after the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in ...

( Fl, 114) at the

Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, russian: Объединённый институт ядерных исследований, ОИЯИ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research ...

(FLNR) in

Dubna Dubna ( rus, Дубна́, p=dʊbˈna) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It has a status of '' naukograd'' (i.e. town of science), being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an international nuclear physics research center and one ...

, Russia, and his research group confirmed data measured on the synthesis of the elements flerovium and

livermorium Livermorium is a synthetic element, synthetic chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Lv and has an atomic number of 116. It is an extremely radioactivity, radioactive element that has only been created in a laboratory setting and has ...

( Lv, 116) at FLNR. He identified many new isotopes located at the proton drip-line, among those the isotope ¹⁵¹Lu, the first case of radioactive emission of protons from the ground-state of a nucleus.S. Hofmann et al.: ''Proton radioactivity of ¹⁵¹Lu.'' In: ''Zeitschrift für Physik A: Atoms and Nuclei.'' Volume 305, 1982, p. 111-123 His speciality was nuclear spectroscopy and heavy ion reactions.

Awards

* 1984 "Physics Award" of the

German Physical Society The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,547, as of 2019, making it the largest physics society in the world. It holds an annual conference () and multiple ...

(together with

, Willibrord Reisdorf and

Karl-Heinz Schmidt Karl-Heinz is a German given name, composed of Karl and Heinz but with a hyphen dash. Notable people with that name include: * Hilarios Karl-Heinz Ungerer, German Bishop * Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (born 1934), football coach and former player * Karl- ...

) * 1996 Otto Hahn Prize of the City of Frankfurt am Main (together with

) * 1996 "Doctor honoris causa" of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Comenius University of

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...

, Slovakia * 1997 "G.N. Flerov Prize" of the

Joint Institute for Nuclear Research The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, russian: Объединённый институт ядерных исследований, ОИЯИ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research cen ...

(

JINR The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, russian: Объединённый институт ядерных исследований, ОИЯИ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research cen ...

) in

, Russia * 1998 "Honorary Professor" of the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany * 1998 "SUN-AMCO Medal" of the

International Union of Pure and Applied Physics The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP ) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the ...

* 2001 "Doctor honoris causa" of the

(

) in

, Russia * 2002 "First Prize" of the

(

) in

, Russia * 2004 "Distinguished Professor" of the Josef Buchmann Foundation and the Department of Physics of the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany * 2006 " Roentgen Medal" of the City of Remscheid-Lennep, Germany, place of birth of Conrad Roentgen * 2009 " Helmholtz Professor" of the

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (german: Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren) is the largest scientific organisation in Germany. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centers. ...

(HGF) * 2011 "

Nicolaus Copernicus Medal Nicolaus is a masculine given name. It is a Latin, Greek and German form of Nicholas. Nicolaus may refer to: In science: * Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer who provided the first modern formulation of a heliocentric theory of the solar syst ...

" of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

, Poland * 2011 "Medal of the City of Torun" and

Nicolaus Copernicus University Nicolaus is a masculine given name. It is a Latin, Greek and German form of Nicholas. Nicolaus may refer to: In science: * Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer who provided the first modern formulation of a heliocentric theory of the solar syste ...

in Torun, Poland

Memberships

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

* Member of the

Russian Academy of Natural Sciences The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences ( Russian: Российская академия естественных наук) is a Russian non-governmental organization founded on August 31 1990 in Moscow in the former Soviet Union, following a de ...

* Foreign member of the

Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scien ...

Literature

* Sigurd Hofmann: ''On Beyond Uranium – Journey to the end of the Periodic Table''. In: Science Spectra Book Series, Volume 2, V. Moses, Series Editor, (hardback), (paperback), Taylor and Francis, London and New York, 2002, 216 Seiten
online
* Sigurd Hofmann: ''Synthesis of superheavy elements by cold fusion''. Radiochimica Acta Band 99, 2011, S. 405–428
online
* Sigurd Hofmann and Gottfried Münzenberg: ''The discovery of the heaviest elements''. In: Reviews of Modern Physics, Band 72, 200, S. 733-767
online
* Sigurd Hofmann: ''Proton radioactivity''. In: Nuclear decay modes, D.N. Poenaru, Editor, , IOP Publishing Ltd, 1996, S. 143-203

External links

* Sigurd Hofmann: ''Physics experiments on superheavy elements at the GSI-SHIP''. In: The 4th International Conference on the Chemistry and Physics of the Transactinide Elements. In: Sochi, Russia, 6.–10. September, 2011
online
* Martyn Poliakoff of the University of Nottingham, UK, at GSI
online

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Sigurd Discoverers of chemical elements Members of Academia Europaea Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni 20th-century German physicists 21st-century German physicists 1944 births 2022 deaths