Pirkko Eskola

Pirkko Eskola is a Finnish physicist. She discovered the chemical elements Rutherfordium and Dubnium whilst working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Eskola was a student of Matti Nurmia [fi] at the University of Helsinki. She worked on heavy ion physics.^[1] In 1961 Eskola demonstrated that the half-life of Nobelium was 25 seconds.^[2][3] Eskola joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1968 and stayed until 1972. She worked with Albert Ghiorso, James Andrew Harris and her husband, Kari Eskola [fi].^[4] In 1969 she was part of the team that discovered Rutherfordium by bombarding californium-249 with Carbon-12.^[5][6] In 1970 she discovered Dubnium using the Heavy Ion Linear Accelerator, bombarding a target of californium-249 with nitrogen nuclei.^[7][8] There was debate between Russia and America over who first discovered of Rutherfordium.^[9] Eskola studied the alpha decay of Nobelium 255 and 257.^[10] She went on to work on beta-unstable Alpha particle emitting nuclei.^{[11] [12]} Using Alpha-particle spectroscopy she studied lawrencium isotopes 255 - 260 and Mendelevium isotopes 248 - 252.^[13][14]

Her husband, Kari Eskola, was a professor of physics at the University of Helsinki.^[15] She went on to have a career in science education.^[4][16][17] She was an editor of the Finnish Physical Society journal Physica Fennica.^[18] Eskola was a member of the American Physical Society Committee for Women in Physics.^[19]