From the CRC handbook of Chemistry and Physics, CRC Press, Cleveland, 55th ed., 1974-75 "The Elements" by C.R. Hammond. page B-6
LAWRENCIUM (Ernest O. Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron), Lr; at. no. 103; at. mass no 257; valence +3(?). The last member of the 5f transition elements (actinide serices) was discovered March 1961 by A. Ghiorso, T. Sikkeland, A. E. Larsh, and R. M. Latimer. A three microgram californium target, consisting of a mixture of isotopes of mass number 249, 250, 251, and 252 was bombarded with either B(10) or B(11). The electrically charged transmutation nuclei recoiled with an atmosphere of helium and were collected on a thin copper conveyor tape which was then moved to place collected atoms in front of a series of solid-state detectors. The isotope of element 103 produced in this way decayed by emitting an 8.6 MeV alpha particle with a half-life of 8 seconds. Flerov and associates of teh Dubna Laboratory, in 1967, reported their inability to detect an alpha emitter with a half-life of 8 secs. which was assigned by the Berkeley Group to 103(257). This assignment has been changed to Lr(258) or Lr(259). In 1965 the Dubna workers found a longer-lived lawrencium isotope, Lr(256), with a half-life of 35 secs. In 1968, Ghiorso and associates at Berkeley were able to use a few atoms of this isotope to study the oxidation behavior of lawrencium. Using solvent extraction techniques, and working very rapidly, they extracted lawrencium ions from a buffered aqueous solution into an organic solvent, completing each extraction in about 30 secs. It was found that lawrencium behaves differently from dipositive nobelium and more like the tripositive elements earlier in the actinide series.
