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A small groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Livermorium Plaza in downtown Livermore earlier this month.
Prominently located at First Street and South Livermore Avenue, the park “is a tribute to the longstanding collaborative relationship between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the city of Livermore,” officials said in a statement.
Outgoing Mayor John Marchand and LLNL Director William Goldstein were among the speakers at the Dec. 3 event. Peter Rodrik, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Livermore field office, and Mark and Nancy Stoyer — two scientists who helped with the creation of the element Livermorium — also attended the ceremony, which saw everyone in attendance wearing face coverings and being socially distanced from each other.
“I have appreciated the partnerships with the labs, our community, and the people who work there doing critically important work that, in many cases, can be done nowhere else in the world,” Marchand said.
“From the generosity of the HOME (Helping Others More Effectively) campaign and the Lawrence Livermore National Security Community Gift Program, to our partnership with the i-GATE Innovation Hub, and so much more, Livermore is a better place because of what our labs do,” Marchand added.
Livermorium was created by LLNL researchers and scientists from Russia’s Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions worked together on synthesizing two new super-heavy elements, (114) Flerovium and Livermorium. The latter, located in the bottom right corner of the periodic table of elements, was made by “bombarding curium targets with calcium at one-tenth the speed of light.”
Only two cities in the country currently have elements named after them: Livermore being one, and Berkeley with element 97 (Bk).
A recording of the groundbreaking ceremony can be viewed on the city’s YouTube Page.
“Only two cities in the country are currently named after elements: Livermore being one, and Berkeley with element 97 (Bk).“
Oops. Berkeley and Livermore are not named after elements; the elements are named after them. 🙂
Thank you for pointing out the typo, Grumpy. I’ve updated our story to reflect the correct wording.