Walter Minder

<p>Walter Minder (August 6, 1905 – April 1, 1992) was a <a href="/facts/Swiss_people/3ecWX2K6">Swiss</a> <a href="/facts/Mineralogist/MeIK9lx9">mineralogist</a> and <a href="/facts/Chemist/N09K7Bdm">chemist</a>. In 1931, he became professor of radiology at the Institut du Radium at the University of Bern. He together with <a href="/facts/Alice_Leigh-Smith/IpaL0lQb">Alice Leigh-Smith</a> announced the discovery of element 85 (now called <a href="/facts/Astatine/AlbHPBK5">astatine</a>) in 1940 and 1942. He proposed the name <a href="/facts/Helvetium/AlbHPBK5">helvetium</a> in 1940 and <a href="/facts/Anglohelvetium/AlbHPBK5">anglohelvetium</a> in 1942 for the new element. Later it was proven that in fact he had not discovered element 85.
</p><p>Later he worked on dosimetry and the effects of <a href="/facts/Ionising_radiation/vw0d9GaT">ionising radiation</a>. He was a <a href="/facts/Pacifist/zN1mCGPx">pacifist</a> and regretted that the atomic bomb had been dropped on <a href="/facts/Hiroshima/WuFDhz14">Hiroshima</a> on his 40th birthday. In 1960 he participated in two pacifist demonstrations against the possibility of Switzerland purchasing nuclear weapons. He retired in 1964. He published a book on the history of radioactivity in 1981.
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Walter Minder open-in-new

Walter Minder