Tennessine (element 117) was discovered in 2009–2010 by a large Russian–American collaboration led by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, together with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Tennessee, among others. The discovery was later confirmed by additional international teams and officially recognized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in 2016.

Quick Scoop

  • Who “discovered” tennessine?
    A collaboration centered on JINR (Russia) and ORNL/Lawrence Livermore (USA), involving dozens of nuclear physicists and chemists, produced the first atoms of element 117 in Dubna in 2009 and reported the results in 2010. Because modern superheavy elements are made in huge projects, credit goes to institutions and teams rather than a single person.
  • Key institutions behind the discovery
    • Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna, Russia) – accelerator facility and experimental team.
* Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennessee, USA) – produced and purified the berkelium-249 target used to create tennessine.

* Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory & U.S. academic partners (Vanderbilt University, University of Tennessee) – design, analysis, and follow‑up confirmation work.
  • How they made it
    Scientists bombarded a berkelium-249 target with a beam of calcium-48 ions, a fusion reaction that briefly created nuclei with 117 protons, identified through their radioactive decay chains. Later experiments in Germany and the U.S. reproduced the results and confirmed that this new superheavy element was real.
  • Why the name “tennessine”?
    The name honors the Tennessee region, reflecting the central role of Tennessee-based labs and universities in producing the radioactive materials and expertise needed for the discovery. IUPAC approved the name tennessine in November 2016, making it one of the newest named elements on the periodic table.

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