Discovered : by A. Ghiorso and co-workers in 1961 Isolated in Berkeley, California, USA Origin : The element is named after Ernest Lawrence, the atomic physicist. Description : A man-made element of which only a few atoms have ever been created, by bombarding californium with boron. The half life of the lawrencium atoms was only three minutes - barely time to count them before they were gone ! Image : Lawrence invented the cyclotron particle accelerator in which sub-atomic particles are sent round and round in a circle at ever increasing speeds until they have enough energy to smash into an atom, thereby creating a new atom.