The Man Who Discovered Unhexunium

By James Babcock

A meteorite expert who teaches college chemistry is sent a meteorite from Nepal. It is extraordinarily heavy, and he determines that it is composed of a completely new element. So seemingly outlandish is his discovery that he chooses not to announce it in case he is mistaken. Instead, he decides he must find proof in the form of a second meteorite.
As the sole specimen was found in Nepal, he goes there to search the Himalayan glaciers. In his quest, he leaves behind the young student who has become the love of his life. He does so reluctantly, but he is driven by his search for knowledge.
Join William Tucker in his adventure as he explores the mysterious richness of life itself. It’s a love story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Babcock
• Release date: Feb 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005714086

James Babcock

Following three years in the Navy and forty years in international and domestic banking, Babcock took up a second career as a writer and composer. His plots draw on his travels abroad and experiences in foreign exchange trading, bank operations, lending, trust services, auditing, and bank management. Active in community work, he served as a university rector, symphony president, and chairman of economic development organizations. He holds degrees from Princeton and the Wharton School. In addition to his novels and short stories, his creative work includes books of humor and games and a number of pieces for violin and piano. He resides with his family in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Book preview

Wading in his family’s rice paddy, the little boy gazed up at the immense white peaks on the horizon. He did not see the small stone hidden in the water.

Ow! He felt a sharp stab of pain. He bent down, saw the stone, and put his hands in the water to lift it. But it was too heavy. He ran to the house.

Father, come. I stepped on a stone, but I cannot pick it up. He tugged his father by the hand and led him to the spot in the rice paddy where he had been wading. He pointed. There.

His father bent down, took the stone in one hand but found he needed both hands to pick it up. Astonished, he said, You were right, my son. It is very heavy for its size.

What is it, Father? Why is it so black? Why is it pitted like that?

I do not know, my son. I have never seen anything like it, and it is unusually heavy. He set the stone on the embankment and tousled the boy’s hair. It’s strange, probably rare. It might be valuable.

Really, Father? How much?

I have no idea, but I will go down to Besisahar and see if I can sell it as a curiosity. We’ll see if it brings enough rupees to buy you a dog.

Chapter 2

On the other side of the world, Associate Professor William Tucker was explaining the periodic table of the elements to a freshman chemistry class at the University of New Mexico. He pointed to a large chart mounted on the wall.

You can look over here, Johnny It’s not out the window. Springtime will keep.

The students laughed.

Tucker continued. There are several versions of this table of elements. This one was created in 1869 by Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev, one of the first chemists to see that the elements could be organized into a logical system. You’ve learned that an element is a substance with only one kind of atom. You’ve also learned that the main difference among elements is that the atoms of each have a fixed number of protons in the nucleus. And how many elements are there?

Several students called out.

That's right, 118. They’re all in this table. He pointed again to the chart on the wall. Its purpose is to show how the elements fall into patterns.

He drew his finger across the chart. "Horizontally, the elements are listed in increasing numerical order by the number of protons. And you’ll notice there are no gaps. Each additional proton creates a new element. But the table is called ‘periodic’ because the elements in each vertical column have similar characteristics. Those similarities are dictated by the number of electrons in the atom’s nucleus. See, all these buggers in column eighteen are gases—neon, argon, krypton…and so on."

The students laughed.

The elements here in column eleven are all metals—copper, silver, gold, and roentgenium. He turned and wrote the chemical symbols on the blackboard—Cu, Ag, Au, Rg. I’ve never seen any roentgenium myself, but can anyone tell me what very special characteristic these three other metals share?

No one raised a hand.

"Alright, I’ll tell you. They’re all worth a lot of money!"

The students laughed.

As he continued, Tucker reflected that beyond using humor to try to spruce up a lecture on a dry topic, he was attempting to impress the beautiful girl seated in the second row. She was leaning forward with her elbow on her chair’s half-desk with her chin propped on her hand. He averted his gaze.

She’s staring at me. But of course she would be. I’m lecturing….Got to keep my head on. Against university policy to court one’s students. And if she’s eighteen, I’m twice her age….God, I’ve got to get a wife.

These thoughts were fleeting. Aloud he said. I’m sure you’ll want to know the other similarities among the precious metals, but I’ll cover those details later.

A student raised his hand. The chart has different colored groups of the elements. Why is that?

That’s another way the chart shows similarities. They’re like families. The big yellow block is the transitional metals. The purple block is the noble gases. He glanced at the clock on the back wall. But I’ll let you just read about all of them. He smiled. They’ll be on the midterm.

The students groaned.

He put down the chalk. Time’s up. See you Thursday.

The students gathered their notebooks and shuffled out of the classroom.

The girl picked up her book bag and left with the others. But at the doorway she glanced back briefly at the professor.

Chapter 3

In the foothills of the Himalayas, the pink rhododendron along the roadsides had blossomed. Their sweet aroma softened the still cold air. The man inhaled deeply as he paused to rest before continuing down the mountain path to Besisahar.

He gazed down at the rooftops of the patchwork of simple houses that crowded together in the small town. It nestled in a cup-like basin of the thickly forested mountains. Although the town seemed near, the winding route through the terraces of rice paddies made for a lengthy hike. Ah well, he reflected philosophically, the walk does me good. He shouldered the bag containing the tiny heavy stone and trudged on.

At the Lamjung Hardware Centre where he bought his home goods, he greeted the proprietor. After pleasant banter, the merchant asked, How can I be of service to you today, Arjun?

Well, my friend, I’ve brought something interesting to show you. He opened the bag, lifted the stone with both hands, and placed it on the counter. Would you be interested in paying me something for this? It’s very rare. Here, lift it.

The merchant tried to pick it up with one hand. My god! That’s heavy! Where in the world did you find it?

It was under the water in one of my rice paddies. My youngest son stepped on it accidentally.

That can happen! He tapped the black stone. Well, this heavy rock is interesting indeed. But me buy it, Arjun? What would I do with such a thing?

Why, you can sell it to somebody else, Sujal, someone who collects such oddities.

"How much do you want for it?’

The man had thought hard about that expected question. 1,000 rupees.

The merchant shook his head. "Oh no, that thing is too odd. This isn’t Delhi. It would sit on my shelves too long before I could get my money back. The most I can offer you is 200. After all, he scoffed, it’s just an ugly little black rock."

No, this is something special. You’re charging 545 for that sledgehammer over there, and this is much heavier, and rare. I don’t want to haggle over it.

The merchant shrugged. All right, suit yourself.…But look here, Arjun, this morning I talked with an itinerant trader in the restaurant at the Tukuche Hotel. If he’s still there, perhaps he would buy your stone and sell it in Kathmandu where there’s more likely to be a buyer.

Alright, I’ll try that. And thank you, Sujal. As always, you are a helpful good friend.

The trader put down his sample case. You are lucky to have caught me. I’m about to leave town.

Thank you for staying to hear me.

The two men sat down in the hotel lobby

So the hardware man sent you. What may I do for you?

I have a precious object that would fetch a high price for you in a bigger city. I cannot travel to such places myself, so I would like to give you the opportunity to sell it for me.

On consignment? I don’t do that. If it’s precious I might simply buy it from you.

That is what I meant.

How much are we talking about?

1,000.

So, semi-precious, if it’s a gem.

It’s not a gem but it is a special rock. Let me show you. With both hands he lifted the stone from his bag and handed it to the trader, who promptly dropped it.

My god, that thing is heavy!

Yes, and that is why it is so special. A collector would treasure it.

No doubt. But it’s just a rock, not even shiny. He shrugged. The most I could pay you is 250.

Arjun was not happy to hear that. But here he was in a small town with no potential buyers, and he would be unable to travel to Pokhara, much less Kathmandu. I can see I must make a concession. I will make it worth your while…500.

It’s clear you understand how scarce a buyer for such a thing would be. Well, I don’t want to cheat you, so I will make my own concession—50 more…300.

Very well, it’s yours. Better something than nothing.

The trader removed a wad of bills from his pocket. Let me pay you, and then I must be on my way. He hefted the bag. Hmmpf. Good thing I’ll be riding in a bus and not walking.

In Kathmandu, where tourists flocked to the shops of Nepal’s capital city, the itinerant trader offered the heavy rock to a merchant who specialized in the sale of Asian antiquities and other curiosities. The merchant bought the rock for 640 rupees. To the trader, he said, I am delighted you thought to bring this article to me. My customers are very special. The thing is unique. The strange shape alone, with its pits, adds to its uniqueness. Someone will be happy to pay a nice price for it.

Nevertheless, despite the merchant’s optimism, the little black rock lay on its shelf for two months.

Chapter 4

On Thursday, as the students settled into their desk chairs, Tucker glanced at the list of names lying on the lectern. There were only two girls, Susan Barton and Mary Elizabeth Kramer.

He pointed to the chart of the elements hanging on the wall. Last time we talked about the scheme of the periodic table. When you think about it, it’s astounding that the elements fall into such ordered patterns. Chemists are the modern magicians. It’s amazing that they’ve managed to identify all 92 of the natural elements and synthesize another 26. He tapped the chart. We’re familiar with the elements here in column eleven—copper, silver, and gold. Sharing similarities, they’re shiny, useful, durable, and somewhat scarce. And as I told you last time, they’re valuable….But you knew that, so you actually knew some chemistry before you signed up for this course.

The students laughed. The girl in the second row only smiled.

Below those metals is roentgenium. It’s atomic number —the number of protons—is 111. Uranium is number 92 and that’s the last natural element before the synthesized elements, which go from 93 up to 118. Now, you and I have never seen any roentgenium. Or, if you have, I definitely want to know about it. Why? Because it’s so highly radio-active that it’s not found in nature and is one of those that has to be synthesized. Then it only lasts an instant, so we don’t really know much about it. It’s evanescent.

Tucker pointed at the young man sitting next to the pretty girl. "If you want to know how to spell that, ask