Actinide concept
In nuclear chemistry, the actinide concept (also known as actinide hypothesis) proposed that the actinides form a second inner transition series homologous to the lanthanides. Its origins stem from observation of lanthanide-like properties in transuranic elements in contrast to the distinct complex chemistry of previously known actinides. Glenn Theodore Seaborg, one of the researchers who synthesized transuranic elements, proposed the actinide concept in 1944 as an explanation for observed deviations and a hypothesis to guide future experiments. It was accepted shortly thereafter, resulting in the placement of a new actinide series comprising elements 89 (actinium) to 103 (lawrencium) below the lanthanides in Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements. Origin In the late 1930s, the first four actinides (actinium, thorium, protactinium, and uranium) were known. They were believed to form a fourth series of transition metals, characterized by the filling of 6d orbitals, in which thorium, protactinium, and uranium were respective homologs of hafnium, tantalum, and tungsten. This view was widely accepted as chemical investigations of these elements revealed various high oxidation states and characteristics that closely resembled the 5d transition metals. Nevertheless, research into quantum theory by Niels Bohr and subsequent publications proposed that these elements should constitute a