Discovery of Nuclides Project
At the present time, more than 3,300 nuclides have been discovered in over 1,500 publications. About 4,000 different researchers were involved in these discoveries.
It is interesting to list who discovered isotopes and where the discoveries took place. Below are links to tables sorted by (first/co)authors, laboratories, countries, and journals.
- Table of top 1,000 (co)authors
- Table of top 250 first authors
- Table of all laboratories where nuclides were discovered
- Table of all countries where nuclides were discovered
- Table of top 25 journals where the discovery of nuclides were published
Researchers can also search for the isotopes discovered by individual authors, and at different labs and in different countries here.
Note: FRIB attempted to account for the different use of initials and name changes. However, this might not always be correct. Authors are encouraged to check the abstracts for the individual isotopes linked from the Isotope abstracts page. Please send any corrections to nuclides@frib.msu.edu.
Search by element, author, laboratory, and more.
View the chart of nuclides on NuDat, from the National Nuclear Data Center.
Learn about the most recent isotope discoveries.
View tables of the top authors, laboratories, countries, and journals.
Learn about the guidelines used to determine the claim of discovery of a nuclide.
Browse a list of publications related to the Discovery of Nuclides Project.
The original papers describing the discovery of the isotopes of all elements were published over several years in the journal Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables (ADNDT).
Learn more about how this work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics.