About the bookThe book explores the ideas regarding creation and discovery of heavy elements which are not found naturally called as the super elements. The various physical ideas that are discussed include periodic laws for elements, stability of nuclei, processes of nuclear decay, transuranium elements, ions and various processes which are involved in the creation.About the authors G. N. Flerov, now a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, was born in 1913, graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. He began his research work while still a student, in the laboratory headed by I. V. Kur­ chatov, the head of the Soviet atomic programme in the 1940-50s. The last two decades G. N. Flerov has been Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna near Moscow. At this institute the research group he is leading has carried out a number of fundamental investigations into the physics of heavy ions and has discovered six new elements of the periodic table. Together with K.A. Peterzhak, a Soviet experimental physicist, Flerov discovered the spontaneous fission of nuclei in 1940. He received various awards and honors from the Soviet Government for his great scientific achievements, specifically, he holds the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR.A. S. Ilyinov, Dr Sc. (Physics) is a theoretical physicist at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Born in 1944, he graduated from the physics department of the Polytechnic Institute, Tomsk, in 1968. His current research interests concern nuclear reactions. He is the author of about 70 technical publications and a co-author of the discovery of elements 106 and 107.ContentsEnigmas of the Periodic Law 6 The Stability Continent 11 Neutron Synthesis 20 Transuranium Elements 27 Heavy Ions 33Kurchatovium 43What is the Superelement? 53A Shallow at the Stability Island 59 The Ion Beam 83The Search for Long Livers 95 Continents to be Discovered 129Appendix. Additional Facts for Those Eager to Know More 133