Dubna believes it has produced element 107

A group at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, headed by Georgi Flerov, says it has synthesized element 107. If verified, the Dubna observation would be the highest‐Z manmade element. It is the latest in a long series of attempts to extend the periodic table, made sometimes at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, sometimes at Dubna, sometimes at both. (More recently a group at Oak Ridge has joined the competition.) One priority dispute, over the discovery of element 104, is being settled by having a Dubna experimenter observe the Berkeley experiment and a Berkeley experimenter observe the Dubna experiment. Two years ago Berkeley and Dubna both announced the discovery of element 106 (PHYSICS TODAY, November 1974, page 19). In the case of element 107, however, Berkeley is not claiming to have found 107, although Albert Ghiorso told us they would like to start looking for it this year.