[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 113 (Wednesday, July 13, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING DR. JOSEPH HAMILTON AND DR. A.V. RAMAYYA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM COOPER

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 13, 2016

  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Vanderbilt University 
and two of its physics professors, Dr. Joseph Hamilton and Dr. A.V. 
Ramayya. Their research with an international team led to the discovery 
of element 117, tennessine, a new addition to the periodic table.
  Their work was a collaborative effort by Vanderbilt, Oak Ridge 
National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, the Flerov Laboratory 
for Nuclear Reactions in Russia and the Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory in California. The name was chosen to honor the 
contributions from our region; Tennessee is only the second U.S. state 
to have a namesake element.
  After spending decades studying superheavy element research, the 
team's discoveries provide new evidence for the ``island of 
stability.'' Tennessine will join three other newly discovered elements 
to fill the seventh row of the periodic table.
  Drs. Hamilton and Ramayya are the best of the best, and they have 
made the Volunteer State proud. Their discovery will live forever in 
textbooks, and they have proven once more that science is a never-
ending frontier.

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