Into the fission valley of magic nucleus Polonium
The word "radioactive" was first coined by Marie Curie when she, along with her husband Pierre Curie, discovered the element Polonium. The nucleus 210Po is a testing ground for many theoretical and experimental aspects of nuclear structure as well as nuclear fission dynamics as it is a magic nucleus with neutron number N=126. At Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata the fission of Polonium nuclei is being studied in order to understand the survival of nuclear shell effects that is known to be the key for the stability of super heavy elements (SHE).
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