Protactinium is a silvermetallic element that is in theactinide group, with a bright metallic shine that it keeps for some time in the air. It issuperconductive at temperatures below 1.4K.
Protactinium was first discovered in1913, whenKasimir Fajans andO. H. Göhring encountered short-lived isotope 234m-Pa, with a half-life of about 1.17 minutes, while they were studying the decay chain of 238-U. They gave the new element the nameBrevium (Latinbrevis, brief, short); the name was changed toProtoactinium in1918 when two groups of scientists (Otto Hahn andLise Meitner ofGermany andFrederick Soddy andJohn Cranston of theUK) independently discovered 231-Pa. The name was shortened toProtactinium in1949.
In1961, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was able to produce 125 g of 99.9% pure protactinium, processing 60 tons of waste material in a 12-stage process and spending 500,000 USD. For many years to come, this was the world's only way to get the element. It is said that the metal was sold to laboratories for a cost of 2,800 USD / g in the following years.
