The team in 2003 began an experiment to achieve the complete fusion of zinc, which has 30 protons, and bismuth, with 83 protons, by having their atomic nuclei collide in an accelerator. The team successfully synthesized a particle of the new element each in 2004, 2005 and 2012. In the third case, the synthesized particle soon underwent so-called alpha decay six times, releasing a helium nucleus with two protons each time and reducing to mendelevium with 101 protons. This was considered clear evidence of the 113th element. A joint team of Russian and U.S. researchers also claimed to have created the 113th element through a different method. But the IUPAC confirmed the Japanese team as the discoverer. The latest achievement followed an attempt to find a new element in Japan more than a century ago.
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