Cosmochemical
research has been conducted at the University of Arkansas since the early
nineteen fifties when Paul Kuroda was hired to the faculty. Among his various
contributions two were cited as among 85 benchmark papers in nuclear
chemistry. These concerned the existence of a natural self-sustaining nuclear
reactor and the discovery that Pu-244 was present in the early solar system
but is now extinct. This isotope was the second extinct isotope to be
detected and provides novel insights into the sequence of events in the early
solar system.
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An historic marker outside the chemistry building
celebrates the contributions of Paul Kuroda to cosmochemistry.
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