The Element Naming ControversyThe 1960s was a very tense time between the USA and the Soviet Union. Even the scientists from these countries were arguing. Around this time, many scientists were in a race to be the first to synthesize elements. They wanted to be the first in order to earn the naming rights. A major controversy arose and was not resolved until 1997. This problem came about when a few groups of scientists claimed to have made the same elements at the same time. The main research labs involved in this crisis were the American lab in Berkeley and the Soviet lab in Dubna.When Soviet scientists synthesized element 104, they named it after Igor Kurchatov. He was the father of the Soviet atomic bomb. The Americans strongly objected to this. They did not want to refer to an element named after an enemy who invented a weapon to destroy their country. But they were called hypocrites since they had named an element after Einstein, who also worked on atomic weapons.Then, members of the international element naming board objected to the American name for 106, seaborgium. This was because the scientist Glenn T. Seaborg was still alive. He was handing out periodic tables signed with his name. This went against the board's rules. In 1994, the commission proposed a new set of names. They attempted to resolve the dispute. They tried to do this by replacing the name for 104 with a name after the Soviet Dubna Research Center. They proposed not to name 106 after Seaborg.This solution was objected to by the American Chemical Society. They felt they should have the right to propose the name for 106. It should be whatever they wanted. The international board decided that credit for element 106 should be shared between Berkeley and Dubna. But the Dubna group had not yet offered a name. In addition, many American books already used the earlier names.Finally in 1997, the names were agreed on. But in 1999, Seaborg was still disputing the name change for 105. It had been changed from hahnium to dubnium. He said they had not really discovered the element for which they had been credited. But the Dubna group refused to remove their claim. Some scientists in Berkeley still refer to 105 as hahnium.According to the passage, Igor Kurchatov was …